Archives

It’s been cold for California this January.  It is a time we have to be outside a great deal.  We probably spend more time in the vineyards in January than any other month of the year including harvest time.  As long as it is dry though it’s not bad to work in the cold.  We …

The number one question we used to get was; “Who takes care of your vineyards”.  We still do get that question from time to time from people just meeting us.  Now though the number one question is, “Are you doing this full time?” The answer is yes and no.  Since we get that questions so …

Saturday morning Stefania and I set out to check on all the vineyards.  We like to do this about every six weeks or so.  We’ll visit each one more often than that but it is a good idea to see what is going on everywhere at once to really get an accurate gage of how …

I think I’ll start this post as a rant.  I’ve been to Urgent Care twice now in the past 6-7 years.  Once for stitches to close a puncture wound in my hand – oyster incident.  The other time was last week.  I didn’t go there, my doctor sent me there.  I had made a regular …

I took a few better pictures of the front yard Haut Tubee vineyard to illustrate the comments I made about aesthetics in my update on our Pinot Noir Vineyard.  Most of the things we do are simple and you probably would have a hard time noticing the differences.   It’s not really an attempt to make it …

This has been one of the driest years I can remember.  Right now in San Jose rainfall is at about 40% of a normal year.  We’ve only had a couple of good storms go through.  Mostly when we have had rain though it has been a light drizzle more than real rain.  The winter months …

Saturday morning we went out to inspect several vineyards and put together the work orders for the next few weeks.  Jaye was with us mostly so I could show her the way to Peacock Vineyard.  I didn’t take any pictures at Peacock but things looked great there.  The homeowner does the pruning themselves and we …

Our little Toyota FJ Cruiser is a regular item in our blog postings. Pictures, especially of the time and temperature are featured in all kinds of posts. We bought the car in February of 2007. It’s very first road trip was that May. We drove up to Oregon to visit a few Pinot Noir producers …

It’s raining in Northern California.  You may have read newspaper articles about the rain or even seen the occasional TV report.  Those reports usually give an air of panic and desperation as wineries try and rush in grapes before they are ‘ruined’ by the rain.  Hooey! We have a rain event every year.  Well almost …

                Saturday morning we were out for our fist harvest of the year. I took the traditional photo of the time and temperature from the FJ Cruiser.               This next photo is also a traditional stop for us now.  Sam’s Donuts around …