In the USA

I have been in the USA for a week now. It was a long flight to Minneapolis via Seoul and LA. I don't particularly like the hustle and bustle of airports any more. Since 9/11 the increased security has intensified the airport experience. But apart from a small delay in Denver caused by bad weather arrived at my destination without much drama.
Minneapolis seems a nice city but have not had a chance to have a close look yet. Have done a little exploring in the countryside and of course found a winery. Alexis Bailly Wines in Hastings presented a full tasting of their range during their season opening on the weekend.
The wines are all made from American grapes or their hybrids so to one used to wine made from European grapes the "foxiness" of the wines stood out at first. But I have to say that after a while that characteristic disappeared into the background. I liked the reds. Easy drinking, soft and fruity. Not long termers by any stretch of the imagination but nice examples of what can be done with vitis labrusca.

Travel Plans

I have trawled through all the internet travel agent sites and found a relatively cheap fare to the USA. Internal flights in the USA were more of a problem. They generally only accepted credit cards issued by American banks. Guess that is a security measure.
Luckily United Airlines has an international site and flights were booked through them.
So now I am in the process of "mothballing" the house in preparation for a 3 month absence. My neighbors are more than happy to keep an eye on things as well as feed the animals as winter progresses. Also some friends will be coming down from Sydney on a few weekends.
I had a huge load of hay and horse feed delivered. God! hay is expensive. $17.50 a bale! used to be $5-$7 before the drought! I guess it will never return to those days.
The other main project is to repair a fence on the cattle yards. I will need to sell a few young bulls before I leave and they need to be drenched and tagged.
So it will be all "go" over the next week.
6th June is departure date!

Days of Winter

Winter is a time of relative rest for a grapegrower.
The vines are in the process of shutting down. Green leaves are turning into their Autumn tonings and the vineyard is awash with color.
Once leaf drop is complete and the sap has stopped running it will be time to prune.
But that is some months off.
Wine from this year's vintage is in the tanks.
Malolactic fermentation is complete and the acid level has been finally adjusted.
It's just a matter of time now to let the oak staves do their work and for the wine to clarify.
Bottling is a long way off.....September maybe.
So it's time for me to plan my USA holiday.