Mid-Harvest 2013

It rained yesterday - just one day, just enough to freak out all of the grapegrowers. It should be a good year for late-harvest botrytized wine - if you need to look at the bright side.
The smell of first season wet earth was sweet and succulent - something I wish we could bottle so that we could demonstrate it as a wine descriptor accurately. It's not moldy or earthy or musty. It's fresh in it's own sweet way, something you just have to experience to know.

Today was going to be a mellow Sunday. Especially after a week of hurried activity of winemaking and wine sales. I woke without an alarm and began to prepare a wonderful Sunday breakfast of chantrelle, comte, chive and tarragon omelettes with fresh strawberries and cinnamon buns. My plan was to have our morning meal, then dive into garden duties to gather what had not burst from the rains.
A couple of hours earlier my husband had said, "come up and get me for breakfast." So, I went to get him but fate had conspired to bring extra grapes along with a shortage of staff. "Bring it up here!" - he requested while bustling about.
Ah, but his earl grey tea was cooling and well .... we obviously wouldn't be enjoying the morning paper together.

At that moment our dining room chairs that we ordered months ago arrived in a big semi-truck at the same time another grape truck rolled up into the winery driveway. Turning the stove off, I dashed outside to help unload our chairs. Moments after getting them settled and inspected next to the house, Rick rattled into the house and I made him sit down and eat for 5 minutes before  he was off and running again. Just after I finished my breakfast, the phone rang. "I really need you to help me right now - we are buried and Robin won't be in till 12:30, pleeaaasssse!"
Sigh .... I change shirts, pull my messy hair back and put on some jewelry, then head to the tasting room to greet the public. No shower in the near future.

Moments after Robin arrives, I'm back in my sweats and into the garden picking tomatoes, then hauling in 40  pounds of butternut squash. I gather the padron peppers that are ready and lop off a couple of purple cauliflower heads. After that, the recycling bins are emptied, a load of laundry started, the kitchen cleaned, the mudroom swept and the dining room chairs swapped out.

Eek! I've only got one and a half hours to shower, go shopping for our BBQ stuff that we need for this afternoon, caramelize the onions, prep the burgers and pack for our outing. What the hell happened to the day!

Run, run, run ...... eventually our 4:00pm rendezvous with friends turns into a 5:30 venture into the wilderness for some relaxation. Why? Why do we even make an attempt to plan anything during harvest? I say this every year, multiple times. "Oh, it's a mellow day, not much fruit coming, no problem."  HA!! It always changes and always takes two hours more than anyone expects - and it is inevitable and uncontrollable, so why plan anything? Just wait till November, make it easy.

The owl has begun hooting outside in the redwood now and I think it's my time to end this rant and go listen to the beauty of the tranquil night.

Another day in ...

Paul Robeson tomatoes

Well, life in the wine country carries on ... and continues to be pretty damn nice. Yesterday we went to the Healdsburg Plaza to listen to Nick Gravenites play the blues. As usual, the event was a giant block party of wines and great food. A friend brought a giant platter of roasted Padron peppers to share, another had an interesting and tasty bottle of sparkling Petite Sirah - the food vendors provided lamb tacos, shrimp tostadas, heaping helpings of onion rings and savory Gyros, charcuterie plates and lavender lemonade.

Good friends were everywhere and the weather was perfect!

After the music festivities, we grabbed a bottle of port and a lemon to join our neighbors in their kitchen to cook up some port poached pears for dessert. We were picked up in a vintage convertible with yummy white and red leather upholstery and driven next door with a sea of bright stars overhead. Ahh .... the pears were delectable!

This morning I awoke to host a wine shop owner for a walk in the Calliope vineyard with fresh coffee in our cups. We then took samples of the vineyard grapes to test for sugar and maturity. The cat followed us around as the fog gently cleared and sunshine warmed our path. After testing the grapes, we tasted the previous year's vintage from that vineyard then packed up some cucumbers, tomatoes and asian pears for his departure. He happened to bring a gift of two beautiful packages of local cheeses from Cowgirl creamery - which we will most likely enjoy at the picnic table at the top of the vineyard with a cold glass of rose' this evening.

Now then, what's with the picture of the tomatoes? This is an heirloom variety that we planted for the first time this year and I am preserving that event here in this blog. They are the most flavorful and delicious tomatoes that I have had to date - a perfect balance between sweet and savory tomato goodness. Next year, I'll plant two plants of these as they are not the most prolific.

Well, gotta go get the lodging ready for a visiting intern, do some laundry, deliver some wine and finish correspondence with one of our distributors. Another day in paradise!

don't stop believing ...

2005 and 2013

What is the significance of these two photos?

I'll tell ya. Both are the same rock on Sweetwater Springs Road. Both were taken during a heightened state of longing. 2005 was a dream, 2013 might be as well, but closer ... much closer.
OMG - let it be.

Weather Update

Well, I've been a Sonoma County resident for sixteen years now. And I have to say ... THIS IS THE COLDEST WINTER I CAN REMEMBER!
For several weeks now the mornings have dipped into the twenties and some of the roads are red and rusty from the salty gravel treatments on the ice. I took my hubby to the airport recently and returned around 8:30am to see many frosty vineyards - sparkly canes amid white grassy rows. Pretty and also pretty unusual. A week ago my honey and I escaped the chill and went to the lovely island of Maui. I can still hear the waves that we listened to each night while falling asleep. Here's a pic:

This is Napili Bay - a charming little beach in Maui where I snorkeled for the first time and encountered turtles and the beautiful state fish called the Humuhumunukunukuapua`a.
(say that three times really fast!)
I think I can still count on one hand the number of sunrises I've actually seen - voluntarily! Getting up at 3:00am, we went to see the sunrise at the top of Haleakala. When we left the condo it was 71 degrees outside. When we reached the top of Haleakala in the dark, it was 36 degrees. Wait a minute, I thought we left Sonoma to escape the cold!? It was majestic and beautiful ... would I do it again? Probably not. It did make for a productive remainder of the day however. By noon we had already had tea, toured a botanical garden and visited a Hawaiian winery.  I would go back to Napili Bay - it's not full of thousands of tourists, the location is great and the prices are not bad.
Now ... back to my coffee ...