Up close and grapey 2

I was right about the vineyard parcel that was hand-harvested on Thursday. The team of pickers spent a good part of the day out there. As of Friday morning, I still have not heard the hum of the mechanical harvesters. They're still waiting, I gather.

They look like a collection of little blue moons.

I'm not close enough to the process to know how the growers are timing their harvests, so we wait and see. Once they get started, it will take a few days, and then the vines will be stripped of fruit. Then crushing and fermenting will happen at the wineries. Bernache (partially fermented grape juice) will come out some time in October, then the primeur, or nouveau, wines will appear toward the end of November. The 2016 full vintage should be available sometime during the spring of next year.