Vineyards are large gardens, where there are occasional Deere.

By November, only a few grapes are left to harvest at Summers Winery in Napa Valley. These are award winning estate Charbono grapes. Visit their webisite and order their wine at www.summerswinery.com.

The 27 foot high fan wasn't needed this year since the first frost didn't arrive until November.

Estate wines have only grapes grown in the vineyard, where everyone takes pride in the quaility of care in growing and harvesting.

Afternoon sun on the winery at Tubbs Lane in Calistoga, which is a very active geothermal area in California. One mile down the road is an Old Faithful type Geyser which regularly blows water and steam hundreds of feet in the air.

Grapes are slowly pulled into the crusher, so that any spoiled grapes are removed by hand to keep the highest quality wine.

Here is a simple explanation of what you see: the machine on the left just separated the crushed grape juice from the skins (after soaking for 3 weeks) and the small pump in the middle is moving the juice to the large tank on the right. in the building.

With night temperatures in the 30's , the cloth wrapping on the tank base is used to keep the the grape juice warm.

Ignacio Blancas and the winemaking crew.

Five minutes after the crush, Cabernet Savingon juice is pink color and very sweet.