Almost Harvest Time!

There's been an uptick in activity in the vineyards! 

Vines are being tagged.

And the whirr of tractors distract from the peace of the morning.

Good thing I had my iPhone with me. The next time I see these grapes may well be as sturm (new wine in the fermenting stage) in our neighborhood heurigen.

And speaking of heurigen, this week we introduced a very longstanding heuriger down the street to a visiting colleague of Tony's, Schübel Auer.  They've been serving their wine and small plates since 1711, and believe me, they know what they are doing.

In the coolness of a late summer evening, we went far too long into the night over plates of brown bread and schmalz (Rendered pork fat with bits of bacon. OMG. Delicious. Good thing Clayton Theodore and I nearly hike to the Czech frontier line every morning.), Liptauer (a sheep cheese spread that contains paprika and other spices), beef goulash soup, schinken (ham) gratin, and of course, jar glasses of last year's Grüner Veltliner. This being a new colleague, I refrained from taking photos of the food to share. That won't happen again, I promise.