All at once the vines have turned from green to gold and the harvest is underway. Our neighbor is hard at work filling enormous wine vats in the cave under his house and the air smells like fermenting grapes (delicious). I arrived home from work today to this incredible view and rushed inside to grab my camera. I still can't believe that places this beautiful exist.
A bounty
We spent the summer gently encouraging a local grapevine to wind its way along our balcony. It's grown almost three feet since we've moved in and the other day, I discovered a few small bunches hanging right next to the rail.
As soon as they were off the vine we started eating them over the sink and the flavor is incredible. It's been decades since I last tasted a wine grape– the sweet, rich flavor and chewy skin are worlds apart from the crunchy, sugary table grapes that we usually buy. As Anthony put it– it's the flavor that grape flavored things are trying to be.
I think this will be the entirety of our harvest for this year but hopefully next summer we'll be able to coax a few more feet and a little more fruit out of this guy..
Sounds of a country(ish) life
Babbling brooks (really)
Lac Leman steamboat horn
Alphorn (neighbor's)
Town rooster
9 PM freight train
Thunder cannons (effectiveness unproven)