This very hot spell has been hard on the primates, dogs, cats, and potted plants.

The sheep and cattle are out grazing in the hottest part of the day, so apparently, it’s fine with them. They are more likely to be in the shade of a tree at 10 am than at 4 pm.

The vines don’t mind the 100+ temperature if they have adequate soil moisture. Under these conditions, they get irrigated at 10-day intervals instead of every 14-20 days.

We are doing crop estimates now. In the morning, we sample vines to count clusters per vine. I spend time inside during the hottest part of the day counting berries per cluster.

For example, an average of 105.85 berries per cluster and 65.47 clusters per vine tells us we have an average of 6,930 berries for Cabernet Sauvignon. These are small berries, so maybe a gallon of wine in bottles per vine. Every variety is different in the number of berries and clusters, and the berries vary a lot by size.