An annual ritual.

The crew arrives at 6:30. It’s still dark.

For $7 an hour these great people work insanely hard and by noon we will have twenty of these bins containing 10 tons of the finest Zinfandel grapes in the world; the area where I live – the Templeton Gap in Central California – is renowned for its Zinfandel varietals above all else.

Then the vines will gracefully shed their leaves, the crew will return to prune them to a nub and another growing cycle is complete.

So, I find myself wondering, as a great American farmer, where’s my government subsidy?

A final check of Brix (sugar content)

The wine grower is required, by contract, to provide grapes with a certain Brix level – 25 to 28 for Zinfandel. I’m at 26.5 which is just about right. The tool in the picture is a refractometer, a nice optical device as old as Sir Isaac Newton. A drop of grape juice on the lens, a peek through the eyepiece and Brix is determined.

Back to the regular topics tomorrow. Now please excuse me, I have to go tread on some grapes….