Temperatures  in the vineyard remain seasonable, hopefully favoring gradual ripening as we approach harvest.  Fruit-dropping has been completed in the barbera vineyard, and bird-control, while never 100% effective, seems to be adequate at this point.  The chemistry readings from the primitivo vineyard show the expected pattern in ripening grapes and suggest that optimal harvest time is rapidly approaching.  We expect the primitivo grapes to be ideal for dry wines during the first two weeks of September.  Harvest time for the barbera is farther out, although the exact timing is less certain due to the less predictable drop in total acid in that varietal.  However, we think this will be late September to early October. 

The weather has settled into a wonderful summer pattern of warm days and cool nights, with no change in sight.  Fruit dropping has been completed in the primitivo vineyard, and the fruit still hanging appears to be of excellent quality.  Our focus in the primitivo vineyard has now shifted to bird control, as a small experimental block of tempranillo grapes (which, true to their name in Spanish, ripen early) was decimated by birds, and they began to take interest in the primitivo.  Multiple legal methods of bird control are being employed.  The first grape chemistry readings were taken from a sample of block 6 primitivo, and this suggests that we are on target for an early- to mid-September harvest of that varietal.  Fruit dropping in the later-ripening barbera vineyard is ongoing.