Grapes on the Vine

I’ve been checking the grapes daily.

Waiting for them to get bigger.

Waiting for them to turn red.

Waiting for more bunches to appear.

My vigilance was finally rewarded.

Seemingly overnight, grapes grew in bunches. I guess I wasn’t looking hard enough on my daily surveillance.  They were green, camouflaged by the gigantic grape leaves.

There were bunches here, bunches there, bunches bunches everywhere.

These are Pinot Noir grapes and this is their 3rd summer with us.

There were a few times we thought we’d lost them to cold winters or pests, but they came back with a vengeance and surprised us with their will to survive.

On some of them there is a slight hint of that reddish purple-ish color that is the start of ripening.

I don’t pretend that we’ll have enough to juice for wine at this point, but now that we know how hardy these are for our climate, we’ll be expanding into a full-blown vineyard. Eventually, we will have enough grapes to juice and make our own special vintage.

A few bottles of it at least.

Imagine my delight
Imagine my surprise
To walk around and see
Grapes growing ‘fore my eyes