Fungus
It rained a little bit this morning! That’s a major event here–the power goes out every time there is even a tiny rain shower, so you can imagine what this major lightning storm did to power here. It was beautiful lightning–still pitch black because the sun hadn’t risen yet, the lightning contrasted against the sky awesomely. It was a nice start to the day!
It turns out that this rain might actually be good for the grapes that are about to be harvested here. Usually, you don’t irrigate or water grape vines too often because if the roots are stressed, they dig deeper into the earth and bring more interesting flavors to the grapes. But apparently, when there’s a brief rain like today, late in the harvest season, a fungus called Botrytis develops on the grapes. The wind that comes with the rain spreads the fungus to other vineyards very quickly. Grapes affected with this Botrytis fungus produce exceptional dessert wines! Score! So watch for special, late harvest dessert wines (or sauternes) from the Napa Valley this season–they should be excellent! (Want to read more? Check this out).
My first dinner in St. Helena: Field Green salad with oil & vinegar dressing and grilled chicken. Accompanied by a slice of local artisan bread and a glass of Shiraz.
I went home for a day this week and it was SO nice and cozy and warm and fuzzy. Sometimes it’s just nice to be in a safe familiar place, isn’t it? Mom and I went to Rochester to see 