Some years ago I planted grapes across the back (west facing) side of the house on an arbor… the plan was greenery which shades the house in summer but loose all leaves in winter allowing the sun in… a passive aggressive approach to heat management and solar heat…
Of course grape vines also bear grapes…
Being a Californian, I planted Zinfandel… They should be a good choice for our climate… of course they make good red wine…
This year they bore fruit (last year they didn’t) … lots of fruit… tons of fruit... (well, not tons, but hundreds of lbs of fruit…)
Our local raccoons have found the fruit… and have for weeks been feasting on grapes… at first it was cute… but 4, yes, 4 raccoons can make a mess… 4 cute little raccoons silhouetted against the moon late at night while they strip grapes off the vines…
The grapes had been ripening at different rates… some green, some purple… but now, with a heat wave, all are ripening and even over ripening… So today I started to harvest… I have plastic bins… each holds about 70 lbs of grapes… I harvested a vine an a half of four, and filled two… I topped each with 5 lbs of dry ice to build up a CO2 head to prevent aerobic fermentation.
I have to fine a brew store open tomorrow to find a source of yeast and yeast nutrients. Then harvest another 300 lbs of grapes, and clean and crush them… It’s a project… Calculations suggest this will result in about 14 cases of wine… They should produce a “Primitivo” red.
Somehow it is appropriate that September and October should be harvest, and wine making season… We city/suburban folk in the land of sun and little rain forget what seasons mean… I hope I don’t.
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