#@$%ing birds!!!!

So veriason has hit. It's the beautiful time of year where the grapes change color. It's so pretty when all the berries in the clusters don't change all at once, but they are all different shades between purple and green all in one cluster.
This year is a bit odd though. Usually when the berries change colors during veriason, I have a couple of weeks before the birds come and find them. This year, that is not the case. They are stripping every cluster right as it changes. They've found this buffet and they are stripping me clean already! It looks like the alfred hitchock movie with birds swarming my vines, plucking the ripe berries just as they turn.

If this is a little taste of what's going to happen this year, then we're in for an early harvest. If the sugars are good enough to eat right when they turned, then we must have had some magic in that constant rain of spring that broke into the 90 degree July heat. The vines are responding, the sugars are set, and 2011 vintage is really going to be an interesting one to see how it ends up in the bottle. I might name one wine Starling's Choice... well, if they leave me any to actually harvest this year.


Off to get that netting on! And quickly!!!!