Veraison!

Veraison is the French term for the softening and coloration of the grape berries. It is happening right now in Napa on most varieties. The green grapes turn purple in random order leaving funky tie-dyed looking clusters. Soon the clusters will be uniform for the most part. In a week or two we will go out and cut off any clusters that have failed to fully turn purple. This is called a "green harvest" and it is done to avoid getting any underripe fruit in the wine. The green clusters that we drop would eventually turn purple but they will never catch up to the ripeness of the rest of the crop.

Grape Sourcing

Ted's been working hard on lining up grapes for this years harvest. We noticed these voluntary grape vines growing in the trees near our house. They were probably planted courtesy of some birds snacking on nearby vineyards. Based on the shape of the leaves, Ted thinks there is a chardonnay vine and a cabernet vine intermingling in the tree. Don't worry, you won't see any mystery wild blend table wine from Prime, we just thought it would be fun to share nature in action.

Barrels!

Yes, its time to buy up all the barrels needed to house the 2008 vintage wine. The fact that I have to pay in Euros makes this process very painful. With the exchange around 1.6 right now that 750euro barrel is costing $1200. Just 5 years ago that 750euro barrel was about $825.

That barrel holds about 23 cases of wine. Quick math tells us that that tacks on $52 a case. I guess this could be proof that Two Buck Chuck never sees a barrel.