Scratch what we said a week ago about seasonable weather…it’s been a little hotter than seasonable and will continue to be so in the near future.  This is shaping up as the warmest summer since 2002 at Shaker Ridge.   A combination of the continued hot weather, light crop load, and a natural tendency to ripen early has apparently led to the beginnings of veraison in the primitivo vineyard.  This is at least a week earlier than last year, despite a much later budburst than last year, and has led us to move up our predicted harvest window for primitivo by 1-2 weeks.  Although there is no sign of veraison yet in the barbera vineyard, we expect it to follow suit, and we have accordingly moved up our expected harvest window for that varietal by a similar amount of time.