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Pretty Pictures

A collection of 349 posts

Autumn Vineyard Photo Essay, Part 3: Relics of a Challenging Vintage

2008 was a challenging vintage. As I described in my 2008 vintage assessment, we saw issues with late frosts in the spring, early frosts in the fall, low yields, shatter and uneven ripening. These all left marks on the vineyard which you can see even now. This first photo shows

Autumn Vineyard Photo Essay, Part 2: Near and Far

One of the things that I always love to try to capture in my photographs are the perception of distance. It's a challenging thing to try to translate the wide open spaces of the vineyard (and that feel of having something interesting all around you) into the fixed

Autumn Vineyard Photo Essay, Part 1: A Riot of Color

One consequence of the end of daylight savings has been that I'm at the vineyard at the end of the day a lot more often. At this time of year particularly, the combination of the late-day slanting yellow sun and the foliage turning colors makes for some

End of Harvest 2008: two weeks of Mourvedre, Roussanne, and Counoise, and a better picture on yields than we'd been expecting

We're concluding the 2008 harvest today. Yesterday, we brought in 6 tons of Mourvedre, and today added another 2.5 from from a last pass through late-ripening areas where we left odd bits here and there. Yesterday's bins of Mourvedre are below: We were pleased

Autumn Images in the Vineyard

As I was leaving the vineyard yesterday, I was struck by the quality of the light, which was quintessentially autumn: low and raking, illuminating the turning colors of the vineyard. It was so dramatic that I ran back inside to grab the camera and clambered into the Mourvedre block behind

Harvest, Weeks of September 22nd and 29th

After what seemed like weeks of waiting, all of a sudden most of the vineyard is ready to pick. Last week, we focused on whites and picked the rest of the Viognier, most of the rest of the Grenache Blanc, and the Picpoul Blanc (we also picked the first of

Harvest, Week of September 15th: Watching and Waiting

Last week saw continued moderate temperatures, with most days peaking in the lower 80s and nights in the 40s. This is perfect ripening weather... as long as you're not in a hurry. The grapes are gradually accumulating sugars, and the cold nights mean that acids are remaining intense.

Some nice photos of ripening Mourvèdre

We're not harvesting today, but I took a walk through the vineyard to see the state of things. We'll be bringing in more Syrah, our Marsanne, and perhaps starting the Grenache and Roussanne next week, but there is a lot more of the vineyard that is

Harvest 2008 (Week of September 8th): Viognier, Syrah, Vermentino, and Chardonnay

After a hot stretch in late August and the first few days of September caused several varietals to race toward ripeness simultaneously, last week saw more moderate temperatures and a much slower harvest pace than we'd feared. We actually had a few foggy mornings out at the vineyard

A family wedding (and a wonderful 1983 Pommard: Prince de Merode "Clos de la Platiere")

Regular readers have probably noticed a gap of about 10 days since my last post. Yes, this means I have broken one of my fundamental rules for winery blogging, but I can only offer the excuse that I've been busy in Vermont preparing for my sister's