Harvest Day 1

Our first morning of the grape harvest for 2009. Here are a few photos to show you the vineyard crew in action.

Each of the green or white containers you see in the photos holds approx 1/2 ton of grapes. The vineyard really looks like a farm today with a couple of tractors, fork lift, flat bed truck, loads of cars parked outside and people everywhere! We normally don't have "equipment" everywhere! Even the deer are keeping away as there is too much activity.


The goal today was to harvest 5 tons. They are so fast at picking. It's 10am and they are done! Look carefully at the first photo below - it's taken under the vines and you can just about make out all the legs of the vineyard crew as they pick!


"Heavy storms" are forecast for tomorrow. We haven't had rain since spring so I'm not complaining....By the end of the week, it should be warm again so hopefully the rest of the grapes will be ready to be harvested then. We expect a total harvest of about 20 tons. I had a little taste of the grapes as I wandered around this morning....lots of good flavors.

Harvest time - Birdland Merlot

Harvest time is upon us. We will begin on Monday, harvesting 5 tons of our lovely Merlot grapes. The vineyard is looking so beautiful with all these little grapes, in their dark colors against the turning green leaves....so splashes of yellows and reds...

It's such a wonderful time of the year....but also feels a little sad as we've been watching the grapes grow for quite a few months now....and then they all get picked...

and as the first photo above shows - it's a little like being an "empty nester"! Yes, we found three different nests in our vineyard this year - one of them had an egg still in it and another had half an egg!....seems like the grapes took over when the birds left and were "hanging out" in them....


So it'll be a few days before everything is harvested - particularly as rain is due on Tuesday, but think of us...empty nesters...... when all our little babies leave home....

But some of them will return in a couple of years as Birdland Merlot - so I guess we can cope :=D

Flowers - in the middle of winter!

We went over to Napa Valley yesterday and it was just a gorgeous drive. We drove past this one house - castle? - that had masses and masses of white narcissi blooming at the front. Just incredible. The perfume was amazing, especially as I bent down to take the photos! It didn't say it was a winery and there was a wall around the property that you can see in the distance so all a little mystery. But how lovely to plant all these flowers for passers by to admire! Here are some piccies.

Then as we drove on we came across lots of vineyards with all the mustard growing in between the vines. The mustard seems to bloom for ages but looked to be in full bloom here. Seems early but then we have had weather in the 70's for most of the past month.

Just these big stretches of yellow surrounding the dormant vines. The contrast with the dark wood of the vines with the bright yellow of the mustard is just gorgeous.

Then we went for lunch as this wonderful place - Auberge du Soleil. The setting was beautiful as we sat outside in the sun. It was warm, the birds were singing, the food was delicious and yes, a little wine too. Here's the view from our table as we ate lunch, overlooking the Napa Valley:

Certainly didn't seem like a winter birthday! We've been in spring since the beginning of January! Thanks for all the birthday greetings.