Veraison (vay-ray-ZON), the start of berry ripening is upon us. All over Rebecca’s Vineyard Pinot grapes are starting their change from hard, green, sour acid pebbles into sweet, ripe, red bird bait.

I find this time of year the most beautiful, as long as the temps are reasonable. The fair is still going on, summer is only about half over (September is typically the best month to be in Northern California weather-wise), and all around the vineyard splashes of color begin to appear and intensify each day. It is wonderful.

Today is a good one also because we’ve had a good response and great feedback on the new labels. Around 50 people have voted, which is a pretty decent number, (though I’d love to have more) and label 21 is currently in the lead.

If you haven’t yet, please take a moment to vote on your favorite. It really is a great help to me and I can’t get enough of the feedback. While we aren’t designing our label for a supermarket shelf, we do want you to feel like you’ve ordered something really special when you buy our wine off of a wine list or receive it after buying direct. Your feedback will help us achieve that goal.

And in other news, Cate over at Wine Sediments has asked me to come help fill-in for departed A-listers Tom Wark and Lenn Thompson. I was happy to oblige, and recommend you check the site out at least a couple times a week since there are some great writers still there like Mark Fisher of Uncorked, Andrew Barrow of Spitoon, Jeff Lefevere of Good Grape and others.

And please remember to vote!