Post 8. Extra Photo's

Hi All,

These photo's are taken on the sunday of my weekend in L.A

Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird!!!!

 

 

There are over 2000 stars on the path each side of Hollywood Boulevarde

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Robin Willam's star

Cast of Star Trek

Trying Spock's hand on for size in the classic Vulcan salute

Panorama of Vasquez Rocks

Vasquez Rocks

Panorama of the other side

 

Bye

 

Post 7. L.A

Hi All,

Hey boys, I have some exciting news on the bear front. Two were spotted last wednesday night. It also happened to be the night I went back to working days so I missed them. It shows they are around though. This weekend I went to LA. I drove down in the Taco, which I wasn't too sure about but it was pretty easy. The big 5 lane highways are a dream, especially when I had google maps guiding me everywhere. I first went to Rodeo Drive in Beverley Hills and walked around, then headed down to Santa Monica by the beach. I stayed at a youth hostel in Santa Monica one street from the beach so from there I walked everywhere. I went down to the pier (see photos) and then walked along the beach to Venice, to muscle beach where the body builders hang out. The lonely planet called Venice kooky and they were not wrong. There's an odd assortment of people down there. They include, but are not limited to, homeless beggars, a freak show (yes a real freak show, bearded lady, wolf boy etc), marijuana doctors wanting to "proscribe" some "medicine", A dude with speedos and snakes, body builders, some people dancing on top of a bus to the Eagles, skate boarders, tourists (lots of these), arts and crafts, heaps of tattoo parlors, pubs and t shirt shops. The were hordes of people with some just hanging out at the beach and enjoying the day. When I got back from Venice there was also a guy taking his iguana out for a walk (see photos). I went to a couple of pubs that night and had some tea then looked at a couple of cool stores. The next morning I drove to Hollywood Boulevard, to Grauman's Chinese Theatre. This is in the heart of the Hollywood walk of fame, on Hollywood boulevard, where the stars are in the pavement. I found a few of interest but what was most interesting was the small memorial set up around Robin Williams star (see photo). In front of the Chinese theatre was the autographs of the cast of Star Trek and their hand prints. I got a photo of my hand in Spock's.

I then drove out to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, just to say I've been there and then drove out to Vasquez Rocks. Vasquez Rocks is a geological oddity of strange shaped rocks in northern L.A. county, where they have shot a heap of westerns and the odd Star Trek episode. From there I drove three hours back home.

It was a good weekend, that I crammed a fair bit into, and experienced a lot of different stuff that you can probably only find in L.A.

Back to vintage tomorrow.

I'll do two posts. The photos from Saturday will be in this post and Sundays photos will be in a new post because there are a lot of them.

That's about it.

Until next time

Entrance to Rodeo Drive

Rodeo Drive

Santa Monica Pier 1

Santa Monica pier 2

SM pier looking back towards the beach

Yours truly

Bikini comp and Muscle comp, Venice beach

The "cool" bus. They were dancing to music on top of it

Entrance to Venice from LA

Iguana getting some fresh air (owner was nearby)

People working out at muscle beach, Venice

The Marijuana physicians

How cool are these boys ?

Bye

Post 6. Photo break

Hi All,

I hope you are not too cold back in Australia. It is warm and dry over here in California. There is a bad drought on  here at the moment and the Coyote's chewing the dripper tube is a constant issue at North Canyon. Another problem they have here I can relate to is Iron Bacteria in their bores. There is a guy in Santa Maria who says he can fix it by getting the water pH down to 2 with sulphuric acid. I cant remember if we tried sulphuric acid or just hydrochloric acid at our vineyards? Anyway, I've also seen caltrop, skeleton weed and they are reporting light brown apple moth has been spotted at a couple of the vineyards in the area. On the plus side there is no downy mildew in California and so they don't spray copper in their vineyards except for one after budburst. why, they couldn't tell me, its something tech viti tell them to do.

Boy's, I havn't spotted a bear yet. The guys tell me there is a group of four black bears that live in the hills around the vineyard. ive looked a bit each night but so far, nada. The workers here are on alert and the call over the two ways is "osso", that's Spanish for bear. I'll keep looking each night.

Below are some photos of Pismo beach I forgot to add last post and some more photos of North Canyon vineyard, its really a stunning location.

Hasta pronto

Scott

North Canyon Vineyard, Vinestar picking in block in front of me

Panorama shot, North Canyon

And Another

Pellenc SP's picking B grade Pinot Noir

Another shot of the Pellenc's

Gondola tipping

Pismo beach from pier looking nth

Pismo beach nth side

Pismo beach sth side of pier

Pier at Pismo beach

looking back towards Pismo from end of pier

And another

Old bells at San Luis Obispo mission built 1772

Queue for lunch at Splash Café, Pismo beach. A famous lunch place.
 

Post 4. Goodbye Napa

Hi All,

It's Friday night and I'm in The Central coast, staying just south of San Luis Obispo. I will post a couple of photos from my last day in the Napa as I saw quite a lot. Wednesday morning I was picked up and went to the Sonoma Valley and checked out a 500 acre vineyard planted mostly with Pinot and chard. We then went up the Valley to Chateau St Jean. This vineyard has spectacular views and to spray some blocks they use steel tracked vehicles because it is so steep. I met the regional manager for Sonoma, cool guy, his name was Scott, cool name. He drove a 6.3 L V8 truck (ute), as do all the other managers. They barely fit on the road. They are giving me a Toyota Tacoma (the taco). Its a bit smaller thank god! The Taco is a Hilux on steroids. Its about 20% bigger in every way to a Hilux. From Sonoma we paid a visit to Stags Leap vineyard and cellars. Very nice old buildings in a secluded canyon. One drawback though is there is no water at this vineyard. They have to truck water from their Gamble vineyard close by to water the vines. 10 trucks a day for four months to keep the vines watered and the winery in water, amazing. We headed to the Gamble vineyard for a budget meeting then we headed south for 3.5 hours to the central coast.


The view at Chateau St Jean

The old building at Stag's Leap

View from the top block at Chateau St Jean

Tracked Kubota at Stag's Leap

Cultivating at Gamble vineyard, Napa

Old Building again where they wine and dine, Stag's Leap
 

Underground Cellar, Stag's Leap

The Taco!!!

Bye

Post 3. What was that?

Hi All,

This morning I had a very weird experience. Ive been waking up at midnight since I got here and lying awake for a couple of hours. This morning was no different except that when I finally did fall back to sleep I was rudely awaked again by my bed shaking........... Enough of the jokes!!!!! I thought a big truck had driven by but I'm in a very solid hotel and it was going on for a bit longer than it should. Then I realized, "Holy Crap, this is an earthquake". Yep, that's right, northern California experienced an earthquake this morning (see 1st photo below for proof). It was pretty cool. it lasted for about 30 seconds after I woke up. Now that's a Californian experience not everyone gets to go through.

I've been inducted to the American vineyards and I've been trained on the software in use over here. Vintage for Managers over here seems a bit less involved as far as scheduling goes than Australia. Over here the winery find the slots for the fruit once the winemakers decide to pick whereas in Australia the managers need to fight and haggle for slots. Another difference is there are no booking numbers. The process is, the managers fill out a live spreadsheet of when the blocks will be ready and the winery's find the slots (no fighting for slots or last minute changes Marty!). I'm yet to strike a blow as far as harvest goes but I'll be in the thick of things thurs morn at North Canyon Vineyard. Apparently we'll have three Pellenc Selectiv's SP's and two Tow UR Vinestars. It look's like they are Pellenc all the way over here.

Today I hung out with the director for grape resources for the day and had lunch with the two Napa Vineyard Managers and the 1 assistant manager. I will be occupying the vacant assistant mgr's role when I come back up here in 4 weeks, running picks. Nige and Ben, remember Harinder who visited a couple of years ago? He and I will run the pick for Napa South. For lunch we went to a Mexican place and I had a beef burrito. This thing was as big as a new born baby filled with beans, chopped up steak and heaps of sauce and salad. It was awesome, but all through the meal the guys were saying "this isn't real Mexican, its Cali-Mexican. Wait till you get down to Paso. That's where the REAL Mexican is"
Well, if lunch wasn't real Mexican, I cant wait till I get down there and try the real thing.

Two of the managers at lunch I knew from previous vintage exchange programs, and get this, the winemaker I met this morning was the old Rosemount winemaker I used to deliver fruit to when I was in Orange! The wine industry world can be small sometimes.

I looked at a number of vineyards today and I'll post some photo's below. The overall impression of the Napa is it is a very slick and polished place. You have Bordeaux style vineyards with 1m*1m plantings beside Aussie style 3m*1.5m. There are a lot of redevelopments going on and I've seen a couple of things they do here that interest me. I also went up into Knight's Valley and had a look at a Stag's Leap vineyard (or Ranch). Jake and Rex, Have a look at the pictures of the workshop ute's (trucks). Make Coonawarra's look like toys in comparison.

Anyway, Enough of the Napa for now. The next post will be from the Central coast.

Told you. The Earthquake was legit!!!

This is called an Uber vine. The graft is higher to eliminate guards and suckers. The jury's out for mine.

Old frost fan at Abbots vyd, Napa

I also went to TWE Corporate in Napa to pick up a US SIM card

Big workshop truck. Two Korvans getting ready to pick Friday

TWO more big workshop trucks

Cabernet at St Helena

Bye

Post 2. First Day in Napa

Hi All,

it took me 22 odd hours to get to San Fran from Mt Gambier. Slept like a log last night. The Hotel I'm in in Napa is pretty awesome, a bit too flash for me but i'll make do. First impressions ?

• Eucalypt trees are everywhere. Its like driving around anywhere in Australia, feels like home.
• People are very friendly.
• Food is great

I spent 5 hours this morning (Sunday) walking all around Napa city. Its a very clean neat town with plenty of people walking around. Had a swim this afternoon and i'm currently relaxing with a beer. Below are some pics I took I thought were a bit interesting. The first pic is of a dog walking get-together I stumbled across this morning. When I took the photo they were having a dog kissing competition. It was pretty gross, both dogs and owners were using tounge!

I'm being picked up tomorrow to start inductions and training on the vintage software they use here.

Walk the dog morning

Tesla car. All electric only car plugged into its charging station

Plenty of houses like this

Cool paint job on the fire truck

World Trade Centre Memorial. The steel poles are from the destroyed towers.

Bye