And the great heron feeds.

Last seen flying out of the Far Niente vineyard with a gopher in it's beak, this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) gave the Vinodogs a bit of a fright on our walk this afternoon. Their start probably had more to do with a missed gopher snack of their own than the sight of a 4ft tall bird about 10 feet above their heads. Mr. Heron is currently perched in an oak tree on the periphery of Vinoland eyeing the multitude of gopher mounds in the vineyard as if deciding which one houses this evening's supper. I hope he's hungry and takes two, or more.
And to think Vinomaker and I installed owl boxes for rodent control, maybe we needn't have bothered.

Size matters?

It does if you are a grape, a wine-grape to be more specific. A small berry has a larger surface area-to-volume ratio, and so more skin to juice. Beyond sugar accumulation other important developments in the berry are the production of compounds such as anthocyanins, tannins and flavanols. Many of these compounds are more abundant in the skin and seeds and when embraced by phenolics they contribute colour, astringency and flavours. The above picture illustrates this ratio difference with the comparison of a table grape (Red globe) to a wine-grape (Syrah -Durrell clone). We do not stress our wine-grapes here, we want them to mature at their own pace. So c'mon boys, be mature about it, admit that size does matter...and in this case, less can be more!