It's Monday the 15th and the heat wave has finally broken. It was hot, dry and still. We had at least 5 days (more I think) in the high 20s and on Thursday, the thermometer in my car read 30C as I drove home from Old Head and Louisburg. I had lunch at Tia by the Sea and walked the beach at Old Head. I was very glad to have air conditioning in my car. The heat broke the old record high when it topped 37.5C in Carlow. That's hot.
Newport Furnace registered a high of 28.5C for the week on Friday. It was scorching. Everyone says now that it's climate change but Alex remembers summers like this in the '70s when he had to ferry jerry cans of water to the islands for the cattle. We've had no rain for ages and the grapevines are parched and getting burnt by the sun.
The Rondo is already starting to turn colour. That would make it a very early veraison. We have quite a few Pinot Noir vines producing clusters so that's very interesting. Many vines have already reached their max height. We may have a taste of Chardonnay. We'll have very little Solaris, the grape we planted the most of.
The work on the main structure of the trellis is done and now you can actually see the trellis from the road. Alex still has to put the wires in, but that he can do over the winter. No rush to do it now as we will just be pruning the vines all back to the main trunk. It really does look like a vineyard.
Cahill did a lovely job and even levelled out a seating area in the top corner. It will be excellent for wine tastings someday if we make it that far.
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| Ghostie christening the picnic spot |
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| Telephone poles and steel cross beams are in |
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| Land above cleared and leveled for safety |
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| Now we need the support wires |
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| It's looking like a vineyard |
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| Looking toward the picnic spot |
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| Lovely views |
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| Pinot Noir |
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| Pinot Noir |
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| Pinot Noir |
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| Pinot Noir |
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| Pinot Noir suffering in heat |
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| Rondo starting veraison |
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| Rondo turning red |
