Today they carry no leaves but in a few months we will all start thinking how the vendage will be for 2008. Will it be a bumper year or not? We look to the sky and wish for a great summer, not too wet, not too dry. Until the autumn we wander through the vineyards, we inspect the grapes as they grow. We drink the vintages of past years to make space for the new vintage this year. Bottles are taken on picnics, drunk at lunches and dinners. On a lazy Sunday afternoon, another bottle is uncorked and drunk, in tune and harmony with the surrounding area.
Years ago I spent a week in southern Croatia. Friends of friends had a vineyard there. It was the local stuff and outside of the area we were staying it would have been undrinkable. But there, just perfect.
In fact, time for a glass now.
