Week Two

The "wine thief" tool being used to fill glasses

David hosts a tasting of our '09 Chardonnay

The "Wine Vault", a cool cave where barrels of our '09 vintage are aging

Long Lake is placid after an early-morning canoe ride

Stephen in the trusty ancient flatbed, on the way to deliver some bird netting to the vines

Mounting a roll of bird netting, with a "sea" of morning fog in Wild Horse Valley below

Our new Italian tractor– red, of course

Laying a row of bird netting– again, the morning fog in the valley at upper left

A man walks on each side of the row to put the netting in place over the vines

Morning sun

The tractor is rigged with a 12-foot axle, allowing netting rolls to be lifted and unspooled

Crushing a sample of Pinot Noir grapes

The first glimpse of the 2010 Olivia Brion Pinot Noir

The 2010 vintage Chardonnay, which tested at 16.0 Brix, meaning harvest is still 5 weeks away

Week One

Stephen's photos give a good introduction to the Heron Lake Vineyard, perched among the hills 5 miles east of the town of Napa. There's our trusty flatbed truck, considerably older than Stephen

Me using a refractometer to measure the sugar content of a grape

Trimming off excess grapes to augment the ripening of the others

A snakeskin draped on a branch

David Mahaffey and Olivia the poodle caring for a row of vines

Stephen on our tractor with the sun-yellowed Napa hills in the background

Picking boxers stacked ready for the vintage

A lakeside pier ready to provide welcome refreshment on a hot afternoon (the motto on the last plank quotes Rupert Brooke, "SWIMMERS INTO CLEANNESS LEAPING").