It’s official. The grape harvest has started. It’s still early and the harvest hasn’t hit full swing yet.
Harvest out here is a fun, exciting time. There are people out here working from 4 am until midnight sometimes, hustling to get loads of wine grapes out to their buyers. Large semis take up our winding country lanes through the vineyards. Propane “poppers” go off periodically to scare birds away from the ripe grapes. The energy out here is through the roof.
Our horses have seen it all. Tractors and trailers, sprayers, people, bicycles, propane poppers, semis, and everything else associated with the harvest. It’s all stuff that could scare a lot of horses. Wrigley used to be pretty darn skeptical about a lot of it. But now, she and the rest of the string take it in stride.
Most people expect the vineyards to smell “grapey” at harvest time, but they don’t at all. Juice grape vineyards have a very strong and wonderful grape smell at harvest time, but wine grape vineyards really don’t smell at all.
My favorite part of harvest is riding past a row that has already been picked. There’s always a cluster or two left behind and I like to pick a few grapes and eat them while I ride.
