Paso Robles Is Ridiculously Beautiful Right Now, Autumn Transition Edition

We've had a hot last few months. That's been enough to accelerate things in the vineyard enough that we're pretty much done with harvest after just 46 days, ten days less than last year and roughly a week shorter than our long-term average. But by the middle of last week it was clear that the weather was changing. This week is forecast to top out, most days, in the 70s. And we have clouds:

Now if you live in another part of the country, it might not seem that extraordinary to celebrate clouds. But in Paso Robles, we have 320 days of sun a year, and we can go months in the summer with nothing but blue sky and sun so intense that it's easy to remember that we live and work at the same latitude as Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. So we're grateful for the clouds' shelter when they arrive. And for their beauty:

Growing up in Vermont, where the fall foliage is an international attraction, probably conditioned me to look forward to the changing colors. And it's of course a lot more subtle here than it is in New England. But the grapevines do pick up yellow, orange, and red hues that do remind me at time of that show.

The clouds also set off the incredible deep blue of the sky, and the lighter tones of the leaves emphasize the darkness of the evergreen foliage on our live oaks:

The partial cover of the clouds also gives me the opportunity to take photos looking toward the sun in diffused light. I've always liked that effect, which makes the vines in the foreground look like they're glowing.

In moments when the clouds thicken you get a different color tone, more grey than golden, which is beautiful in its own right. This photo looks over one of our biodiversity blocks where we've planted fruit trees and an insectary preserve around a low wall of dry-laid limestone from the vineyard:

We also have the fun of having the sheep getting back out into vineyard blocks we've finished harvesting. The combination of sheep and sunsets is pretty amazing, and my wife Meghan has been making regular visits to document:

I'll leave you with one more shot from a vantage point I've come to love, looking west across Counoise and Syrah blocks toward the Santa Lucia Mountains and the setting sun: 

The autumn colors in Paso Robles don't last all that long; I'd estimate that we've got about a month before some combination of frost and rain will start the vineyard's natural progression toward brown leaves and eventually bare canes, and we start a new transformation to the brilliant green hillsides that reminded me of Ireland the first time I saw them. And that's beautiful too. But meanwhile, if you're visiting in the coming weeks, you're in for a treat. Don't think of any clouds you might get as a problem. Think of them as a theatrical backdrop.