Pegging along.

It's that time of year again - bird netting time.  Yup, the Pinot grigio (PG) grapes are ripening as I type.  Many apologies, in advance, to my feathered friends, but we wouldn't be friends for long if you ate all my grapes.
The more than welcome warm, to hot, temperatures this month (the warmest weather all summer, actually), have ensured that the PG grapes are accumulating sugar at a steady rate.  If I've said it once I've said it a million times, installing bird netting is my least favourite vineyard operation.  Netting is a tedious task, getting way too up close and personal with creepy crawlies in the canopy is one major issue for me, but it is absolutely necessary if I want of harvest the fruits of my labour.  So, peg on Vinogirl!

New girls.

Not to let stupid Lynx rufus get the better of me, I once again drove over to Sonoma to purchase a few new chicks.  It seemed the right thing to do.  Meet my Ameracauna, Buff Orpington and, yes, another Barred Plymouth Rock.  In keeping with my, fairly new, tradition of naming chickens after Henry VIII's warships, meet Anne Gallant (Annie), Pansy (er, Pansy) and Henri Grâce à Dieu (Gracie).
Only hatched on August 8th, they are younger and a lot smaller than Vinoland's first batch of chicks.  But, guess what?  I love them already.

Sad.

These two feathers are all that remains of Minion (AKA Minnie).  In broad daylight, a despicable bobcat (Lynx rufus) nabbed my super-friendly, favourite chicken Minnie and ran off with her up the hill away from the house.  Caught in the act, the bobcat dropped Minnie and slipped through the deer fencing to safety, because if I'd caught it's scrawny, tawny ass...Minnie died in my arms.  I'm very sad.
RIP, Minnie.

Main Street Reunion 2019.

I still love this event.  Today, downtown Napa hosted the Main Street Reunion (MSR), 2019.  Once again, this year, diminished in size compared to how it once was, the MSR is still a lot of fun.  I didn't think I'd want to attend this year, but as the date neared I couldn't resist.
I'm getting quite familiar with some of the same exhibitors that show up every year (that I have attended).  And rather than becoming bored with seeing the same cars year after year, I find myself actively seeking out old favourites.  Familiarity does not breed contempt in me, rather the opposite in fact.  I wouldn't ignore an old friend.  Especially one that weighs about 4,000 lbs of vintage American steel.
Look at those flames.  Sizzle, crackle and pop!
Vroom, vroom!

CS: Veraison, 2019.

Always bringing up the rear, Vinoland's Cabernet sauvignon has deemed it the right time to begin to start the process of veraison.  Clone 4, as I may have mentioned before, was not the best clonal selection to make for a Coombsville vineyard.  It is so cool here, compared to other Napa Valley AVAs, that it is a struggle to get these darned grapes ripe every year.  Takes quite a bit of extra work with canopy management etc., but we always get there, together, in the end.  Well, we'll see what sort of ripeness this year brings.

Wouldn't be a show without Punch.

Not to be outdone, like Punch in a Punch and Judy puppet show, the Pinot grigio vines are hot on the heels of the Syrah in the veraison-department.  Of course, they will be harvested before the Syrah - lower sugar and higher acid - they will be white wine, after all.
The fruit is looking quite charming.  I'm looking forward to tasting it as the sugar accumulates over the next several weeks.  Grapevines are just wonderful plants.

Veraison days are here again...

..."The skies above are clear again, So let's sing a song of cheer again, Veraison days are here again."
Yup, it was a bit of a slow start to the 2019 growing season, with all the rain and the cool temperatures, but the Syrah (SY) grapes are beginning to ripen.  Actually, the SY probably got enthused about a week ago (and some of the vines are less advanced than the one photographed) but, as usual, I've been rather distracted.  So despite reports of delayed development, even perhaps up to two weeks for some growers, here in Vinoland Mother Nature is working here magic right on time.

Fourth of July Party Animal.

Here is V2, being all festive and patriotic as befits the celebration of America's birthday.  Any excuse for a party, which just means an excuse to eat human food - hotdogs, burgers, chips and dip, potato/pasta salad - anything she can get her paws on, or her teeth into.  My furbaby's not fussy when it comes to food.
God bless the United States of America and its humble, quaint culinary traditions.  (All good when washed down with something tasty in the wine department.)
Oh...and God save the Queen!

I'm a mother-clucker.

Speaking of babies, besides being Vinodog 2's dogmum, I recently became the mother of quadruplets - four bouncing baby chickens. Hatched on May 29th, I purchased the chicks at Rivertown Feed & Pet Country Store in Petaluma, Sonoma. (Shockingly, they're not hip Napa-chicks.)  I had a fun time driving over to the other valley.
The chicks are four different breeds; a Golden Sexlink, a Rhode Island Red, a Silver Laced Wyandotte and a Barred Plymouth Rock.  I named them after Henry VIII's warships, (seeing as ships are female, like hens), so I have a Mary Rose (Maro), Primrose (Rosie), Lizard (Lizzie) and Minion (Minnie).  Aren't they adorable?  I love them already.

Pregnant pause.

It's been a while: I've been busy.  My absence, whilst not as lengthy as a real pregnancy, has seen a good deal of fruitfulness - out in the vineyard.  My babies are looking good.  Pictured here is a cluster of Cabernet sauvignon grapettes.  Fruit set looks great, weather conditions have been favourable and there doesn't seem to be much evidence of shatter.  I always feel a sense of achievement at fruit set, but especially when the set looks as good as it does this season.  I am aware that a lot of crazy stuff can still happen between now and harvest, but I've been doing this for a while now and I feel confident saying that 2019 looks like it's going to be a really good vintage.

A satisfying Sangiovese.

Tonight it was time to drink the Pestoni Family, 2017 Sangiovese that I purchased at the winery's tasting room on May 15th.  Paired with something suitably Italian and tomato based for dinner, this was a simply lovely wine.  Quite savory and peppery, with lots of red fruit and dried herbs this wine went great with dinner.  The acidity?  Did I mention the acidity?  Lovely, strident and joy producing the acidity was perfect with my pasta and red sauce.  I must go and purchase some more: always nice to have a domestic Sangiovese in the cellar when pasta is on the menu.

A solitary, May flower.

It's cold, it's wet - very unfortunate weather.  If I were a Pinot grigio flower bud I would not want to make my debut in the meteorological conditions that Vinoland is experiencing right now.  Thankfully, my grapevines do not have the same distaste for precipitation as does their guardian/pruner.  (Which begs the question, what is the exact nature of my relationship with those hundreds of green, fuzzy things out there?)  Mother Nature is in charge and when it is time to flower, it is time to flower.  Rain be damned.

Waiting in the rain.

The rain has returned - with a vengeance.  And it is forecast to rain every day for the next week.  Disgusting weather.  I suppose I should be thankful for bloom being a bit delayed this year, at least I don't have to worry about all this rain blasting the flowers off the vines.  Sigh.  What is a Vinogirl to do?  Go wine tasting, of course.
A quick drive up Highway 29 (in heavy rain, light traffic) found me at Pestoni Family Estate Winery.  I chose to visit Pestoni, established in 1892, as I wanted an authentic Napa Valley experience.  Or should I say what the Napa Valley experience used to be.  I have been feeling a little jaded with the wine industry lately (or rather the theme park direction the Napa valley seems to be heading in), so a quick dose of Napa Valley history seemed to be just what was needed.
A rather old-fashioned, brown tasting room, which seemed a tad dim on this grey day, the Pestoni experience was still a suitable antidote to the new, gimmicky wineries that seem, more and more, to be the way of wine's future in the Napa Valley.  I was interested in tasting Pestoni's 2017 Sauvignon Blanc, their 2018 Rosé and their 2017 Sangiovese.  So I did, and I liked all three wines sufficiently that I went ahead and purchased a bottle of each.
Upon leaving Pestoni I had to stop to let the Wine Train pass as it headed north.  Whilst I waited, I braved the rain and took a photograph.

Thwap!

I have spent a lot of time in the vineyard since I returned to California: I am paying for going on holiday during the spring bud break-bacchanalia.
The weather in Vinoland continues to be unusually cool which has been a bit of a boon as whilst I was away the vines have had a bit of a slower start to the growing season.  There is no evidence, as yet, of flowering in the Orange muscat (OM), or the Pinot grigio.  Flowering was retarded in 2018, so I'm expecting 2019 to be late also.  However, it's not as if the grapevines were dormant in my absence, there is plenty of growth for me to deal with.
The OM is more than a little unruly, I was positively slapped silly as I struggled to stuff the recalcitrant shoots into the trellis wires. I'm not a wimpy person, but at one point I almost felt that if I got thwapped in the face one more time I was going to burst into tears.  It hurt!
Whilst I'm not saying a grapevine has the ability to bear malice (even with my proclivity to be a tad anthropomorphic), I do feel I was being severely reprimanded for my dereliction of viticultural-duty.  Ouch.

Anyone for cricket?

Thud is good at discovering interesting wines for me to try.  The ones he finds can be of interest due to an unusual varietal or blend, a compelling place of origin, or a gripping backstory.  Or, as is the case with this wine, a celebrity connection: former England cricket star Sir Ian Botham OBE (incidentally, born about 2 miles away from where I'm sitting).
The 2017 Botham All-Rounder, Cabernet Sauvignon (Australia) is definitely not a complex wine, but I wouldn't expect it to be for a wine that costs about £8.00 (currently about $10.50).  Produced from several vineyards in South Eastern Australia, and the result of a collaboration with Paul Schaafsma (innovative wine industry guru), The All-Rounder is a medium bodied, invariably quaffable, fruit forward, usual-suspect-berry-packed red.  Thanks Thud for the easy to swallow wine - bit of a dibbly dobbly, really.
Sir Ian was a rather big deal when I was in my teens (I do like a bit of cricket) and is considered one of England's best ever to play the game: excellent at both batting and bowling (an all-rounder).  As a retired sportsman, he is currently in an advert on the telly hawking the Revitive Medic, an electrical muscle stimulator/circulation booster.  He isn't drinking wine in the advert, but methinks he should be.  In my opinion, a glass of wine would certainly aid in the relaxation of Sir Botham's, or anybody's, aching muscles.

Everybody was Kung fu wine-fighting.

Thud and I bought this Kung Fu Girl, 2017 Riesling (Colombia Valley AVA), simply because we both liked the label.  But also because he was planning on cooking Chinese food for dinner.  (The Kung Fu Girl [KFG] was the first Riesling we spotted whilst out shopping.)  On Thud's part it reminded him of the killer-kiddie-Kung fu moves of his youngest daughter: on my part I thought that it would pair well with Thud's, own recipe, 'Chinese Chilli Chicken'.
The KFG did not disappoint.  What was initially a rather pedestrian wine, the KFG turned into a delightful citrusy, white-peachy, unexpectedly medium-bodied, food friendly wine.  When consumed with food this wine went through a really remarkable transformation.  Not only did it pair well with our dish, it didn't fight with the food - always important.
Admittedly, buying a State of Washington wine (in Costco) whilst on holiday away from the US is a little odd.  However, sometimes, when deciding on what wine to buy, I just throw my hands in the air like I just don't care.  Or like a drunken Kung fu-fighter.

Der Geschmack der Farben.

I arrived home in one piece.  My flight from SFO to Manchester, via Zurich, was without incident - very smooth and painless.
Now that I am home, I am in a state of amazement.  I have experienced better weather here in the past four days than all of 2019 in California and I have loved every minute of it.  Thing is, England is hard to beat when the sun is shining, it is just so pretty.  And so green.  Spring has always been my favourite season in Blighty.
Family OTW and I have busied ourselves with lots of activities; shooting, archery, bingo and other games.  Every meal has been outside, breakfasts, lunches and dinners.  Of note, yet another fabulous wood-fired pizza event (my sister-in-law's Thai chicken pizza could give California Pizza Kitchen a run for their money) at which I discovered that a particularly spicy pizza paired well with a Prosecco that Thud pulled out of his wine-stash.  Fun.
The Taste of Colours, kindly reproduced with the permission of Swiss Air (well, I'm sure they would have approved it if I'd asked), is not about the neurological trait synaesthesia.  Rather, the wine-article in my seat-pocket magazine maintained that there was a correlation between the colour of a wine and the way in which a wine is produced, even a vintage's growing conditions, with the qualities therefore inherent in a wine.  Not sure I totally buy the whole premise of the article as it's a little simplistic, besides I don't read German, but it made for some light, in-flight entertainment - a bit like the colour, Blasses Weissgelb.

Get back...

...to where I once belonged, Part 14.
Yes, this evening I will be winging my way back home to Blighty, hopefully with a glass of Swiss Air white wine in my hand.  Chasselas to be exact.
In preparation for my journey, I did a bit of research (wine research, my favourite) and drank a bottle of Swiss wine.  I even let Vinomaker have a little.  The 2017 Cave de La Côte, Chasselas Romand was an extremely quaffable, light wine.  Fresh and airy, with an aroma of lime and flowers, followed by lemon and melon on the palate this was a very nice Chasselas.  Besides, what's there not to like about a bottle of wine with the Matterhorn on the label?
I remember years ago driving past the vineyards in the canton of Valais (around Sion).  Little did I imagine that years later I would be sitting in the Napa Valley drinking a bottle of Swiss wine from the Upper Rhône Valley.  Life is funny.
Get back JoJo!

All systems go.

A little bit later than last year, but no too much, the Cabernet sauvignon vines are beginning to go through budbreak.  That's it, all of Vinoland's vines now have some green-stuff going on.  In fact, the white grapes are at the stage were I need to start suckering the trunks.  It's always something. 
Go Cab, go!

Fava beans and Chardonnay.

This is not a post about a food and wine pairing.  No, it is a post about the incessant rain that northern California is experiencing and the fact that I don't like it.  However, a neighbouring vineyard's cover crop is enjoying it immensely.  Every cloud has a silver lining, or something like that.