This is the view that meets my tired eyes as I pull up the blinds in the kitchen. Mr. Blue Sky is back. The rows of vines, at one time nearly too bushy to safely drive a lawnmower through, stand bare. It is easy to see the complexity of vigorous summer growth now that the canopy has withered away. The landscape still offers me a color palette that denies the reality of the season. But I take note first of the crystals covering the ground; yes, it is November. I am still heading toward winter and it is a long journey to the other side. Sigh.Most of the work of the vineyard now is inside work. Organizing files. Shopping for the best price on bird netting. Scouting winerys for a February marketing push. Making a list of 2010 harvest supplies that need to be acquired. Boning up on all the things that can go wrong, all the ways I can fail, so hopefully I wont. All of these things I can do while I load the kitchen stove with wood (the other stove I load with food) so I may pretend it is still July...winter pruning starts next month.
