More deYoung photos

 

 

 

 

deYoung Museum and King Tut

After Half Moon Bay, we (eventually) found parking in Golden Gate Park and walked to the deYoung Museum. I like the building as much or more than the exhibits themselves, especially the displays people probably most often miss such as the meandering crack in the sidewalk that leads into the doorway (and through giant granite slabs) and the wire metal sculptures near the elevator to the observation tower. The kids liked the King Tut exhibit which we decided to add to our intinerary. No one enjoyed the slow slog through near gridlock traffic home...a product of the Giants game, Folsom Street Fair, and dragon boast festival on Treasure Island.

Pastorino's

Our last-weekend-of-September tradition: beating the crowds to Half Moon Bay for a little early bird pumpkin picking. It was the first part of the day, so with pumpkins carefully tucked in the trunk, we drove up the coast to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

Julie's soccer

Ju

Thanks to Gina's homemade ladybug burettes, Julie overcame her aversion to her black uniform and shin guards and actually attended last saturday's practice/game. Small victories....

Pressing the reds

The red Zinfandel must finished fermentation last week, and with the help of a rented bladder press, I extracted the juice from the skins/seeds. The wine is acidic and tannic, but with the addition of malolactic cultures which converts harsh tartaric acid to mellow malic acid, this should eventually soften. Oak cubes were added as well....tastings and lab tests will be needed after everything rests for a bit.

Snack

 

Snacktime during Nate's soccer practice.

Fall soccer

Fall soccer has begun -- Nate practices on Tuesdays and has games on Saturdays. Go team Netherlands! Julie has a short practice and a game on Saturday too. She boycotted the first game due to uniform meltdown issues...apparently common in the Kindergarten soccer set.

White Zinfandel

 

I racked the white zin today, but coming from a red grape, the juice at this stage looks more like pink lemonade. Note the compact layer of yeast (gross lees) in the fermenting container.

All grown up

 

 

The praying mantises which hatched in May and survived the summer are now full grown adults. There are two large ones camped out in the purple flowers outside the kids' room. This one, the smaller of the two, likes snacking on bees and has been named "Fred" by Nate.

Harvesting Grapes

 

 

 

 

Due to the relatively chilly summer and dry winters, grapes here have been maturing at widely different times. I had two days' notice the Zinfandel grapes I contracted were ready, so it was a mad scramble to plan this years wines: a white zinfandel, hearty zin, and a zin port. It all started with an early Friday morning drive out the farmlands of Brentwood (east Contra Costa county), and then selecting the best grapes in the 8 acre private vineyard. The resident dog kept us company as the wine broker and I hand-picked 250-280 lbs of fruit and took it back to the owners airplane hanger to do a quick crushing a destemming. The brix (percent residual sugar) we measured seem a little low, but the grapes tasted perfect and their slight "raisoning" indicated readiness. Further lab tests showed even stranger readings: high pH and lower acid levels. It should be an interesting year for the wine.