Grapes are Reaching Full Sweet Maturity

The long summer days have produced ripe fruit on the vines and it's finally time to harvest. Today we picked part of our Syrah and Zinfandel. I must say that we love the wildlife and birds around here, but do wish they'd eat lunch somewhere else. I guess the sweet juicy grapes are just too irresistible...we shared a few too many with them this year. This evening, returning home from Amador City, we drove up to find a whole flock of turkeys just lounging (and looking quite full and happy) on our grassy patch by the vineyard! Out jumped our well trained turkey troopers (our kids!) to chase them on along. You just have to laugh! Next year we may have to net the vines. Still it was a great harvest and crush...just one of many seasons of harvest to come. Brix levels depending, this coming weekend we will crush more Syrah!