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LA VENDEMMIA

September brings the grape harvest. It was a cold, wet spring so the vines got off to a slow start this year and the harvest is a bit later than usual. But July and August were hot and sunny so it should be a good year for wine - as it almost always is.

We have a few vines at our house but they're mostly to shade our pergola. We don't make wine but we're always willing to help our friend Sandro who does.

Sandro's grapes are mostly sangiovese which is the principal varietal in many central Italian wines including Chianti. The name is from the Latin sanguis Jovis, 'blood of Jove'. And the resulting wine can be bloody good or bloody awful depending on who makes it. Sandro's is always pretty good and he's rightfully proud of his genuino.