Reading the Seasons: An Almanac for Winegrowers
How experienced growers forecast a vintage long before the grapes arrive.
Long before laboratory analysis, growers read the season in the plants around them: the timing of the first swallow, the flowering of the acacia, the smell of the soil after rain. Much of this folk knowledge turns out to track real climatic patterns.
We collect some of these signals and test them against the data, separating useful tradition from charming superstition. The result is a practical almanac for anyone trying to anticipate what the year will bring.
