Veraison along Wine Road- the Seasons are True & Constant
Pinot just starting to ripen, Lauterbach Vineyards, RRV AVA.
Veraison – what the heck? Ah- merely the fancy French term for “the onset of ripening”…for proper French pronunciation, click here. I was thinking about all the ripening that is going on, preparatory to the start of the incipient harvest/crush 2011. Right now, along Wine Road, it is high summer- and yet, there is also a feeling of fall, sleeping just around the corner. It seems like we have not had the heat that everyone “remembers” from past years- but there is often a last hurrah of that in Indian Summer in October.
Tony Logan Immordino caught these amazing shots of veraison in zinfandel, Mazzocco Sonoma Winery, Briar Estate Vineyards:
Exciting to see the color come up....
Different varietals, different locations, different ripening.
Luminous.
Amazing to see....
Warm temperatures, intense sun.
Lovely fruit to make lovely wines....
Some typical, regular weather and nature manifestations of August along Wine Road are:
Foggy mornings, with a heavy marine layer, when it seems that even in Healdsburg, you can smell the sea- we will start out in the 40 degree F. range and end in the 90′s on some days:
Early morning on the Russian River looking east.
Here comes the same view just a few hours later-
Brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures on the Russian River looking east by midday.
The living is easy for birds, fish and the Great American River Otter,
Close as I could get- there are 4 on the end of the dock, right side, playing with and eating a fish- good crunchy sounds. They are startlingly substantial in size and presence- and playful.
The California Buckeye- “First to green, First to brown”- my dad, born in Oakland, CA in 1918 always said that, and it is true:
Buckeyes- ready for fall first.
Poison Oak (Leaves of Three, Beware of Me!) are touched by the colder nights and turn a brilliant red, giving their presence away!
Watch out! We have no poison ivy in our area, but poison oak does well on its own.
Blackberries, extravagantly, wantonly wild along the roads and byways, ripen, too.
Lavender, French and English varieties especially, staples of winery and lodging gardens, after blooming profusely, starts to turn from lavender to a wee bit gray, though bees are still happy in their embrace:
English Lavender soon to be English Gray.
Starting to see a bit of fall color in local trees:
Tree version of "Silver Strands among the Gold"....
And we must not ever forget the phenomenon of the Naked Ladies, dear to our own Luther Burbank, amazing pink lilies, born from pioneers, that seem to spring completely gorgeous and fragrant, like Venus on the Half-Shell, out of seemingly desolate, dry and rocky soil:
Naked Ladies- sound totally more interesting than they are....
Ah, the smell of it (them)!
$7.50 per bunch at a local trendy Healdsburg market....hmmm, coals to Newcastle....
Our brand-new website is LIVE; while I have you: click here to see it!
Here’s looking at you, kids,
TR
August 11, 2011- look at that moon!
