This is your warning

Racing up valley from downtown Napa to the winery I saw the first fruit trucks on the road.  Initially it was exciting, the delayed season is finally starting and that is good news.  The mild summer we've experienced in California this year with the few hot hot (heat) days at the end of August have left us with a mixture of under ripe fruit and raisins.  However the white fruit seems to be fairing better than the red, and Sauvignon blanc is what came in today.  

About 9 tons of it, on this truck:

The white bins are taken off the truck with the forklift, weighed (so the growers can get them dollar dollar bills) and brought into the winery.  Once in the winery the interns sort through and pick out the undesirable clusters before they go in the tank.

T and I could not participate in this part today.  We were out in the vineyards collecting more maturity samples.  But I did have this guy keeping me company:

L: Hey T, what are your thoughts on this first day of Harvest?

T: Well, our first load of fruit was a labor of love.

L: That's what you want to say? Ok, keep talking and I'll type it.

T: Wait, no. Dammit.

L: Too late.

T: (sigh) Jeeze Louise**.

Walks out of the lab.

After a few minutes he came back.

T: Ok, are you ready for my thoughts on this harvest so far?

L: Yes.

T: Well, it looks like this year instead of having the ideal of harvesting fruit when it's ready and perfect we're going to be pulling in fruit to avoid disastrous situations. . . Ok, maybe not so melodramatic.  I take it back, write it better, polish it up.

L: No.

But it's true.  We're making some tough decisions.  It isn't as dramatic as "disastrous" (at least not yet), but we have been trying to choose between the lesser of two evils.  Under ripe fruit with high acid, or raisins.

Today's Tunes: Low on the music today.  Instead we welcomed the 2010 harvest with Adam Carrolla's rants via the Nerdist Podcast.  Yes it's an oldie, from way back in February but T has never listened to the Podcast, and he had to be educated.

Up Next: Boys with Beards, the calendar.  Who likes them hairy? 

**Yes. T says Jeeze Louise.  He's trying to cut down on his swearing because he has a pair of tiny ears he needs to be a better influence on.

-T&L