Fish Hats & Gold Shovels

Isn’t that one awesome hat?
(Photos courtesy of Joe Borreson of Balzac Communications, unless noted otherwise)

Two years ago, I was writing the bocce column for the Yountville Sun. After submitting one column, Sharon (the Sun editor), said there was no room for it, but that my column would appear the following week. Okay, these things happen, but I WAS curious to see why I had been bumped.
Turns out that in the area of the paper that normally contained my column, there was a lengthy article about Davie Pina being honored as Napa County Grower of the Year by the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association.
Dang, I was bumped by my kid brother! Well, he’s back in the news. How does he do it? Must have something to do with his headwear – Check out that hat! Is that wild or what? But I gots hats, too!

Here’s my current hiking hat and two retired hats:

(Photo by Ranndy Pina)

When I ran into a fellow vineyard manager while wearing my current hat, he asked: “Where did you get the Turkey feather?” But I can read between the lines – What he really wanted to ask was: “Do you realize THAT is a Turkey feather in your hat?” Hey, what's wrong with a Turkey feather? Even Ben Franklin said that the Turkey would be a better choice as the American symbol than an Eagle.

Ben wrote to his daughter:

"For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."

Check it out here: http://www.greatseal.com/symbols/turkey.html

The following excerpts from a Wines & Vines article by Paul Franson will explain why Davie gets to wear that cool hat:
Napa Valley, Calif.--Members of the Rutherford Dust Society broke ground on an ambitious restoration of the Napa River bed today. The effort is intended both to restore the natural habitat of the river and protect adjacent vineyards from erosion; it should also reduce vineyard pests near the river.

RDRT (or "Our Dirt") seeks to:
* Understand the dynamics of the river system
* Stabilize river banks and address bank erosion to reduce fine sediment pollution
* Create a riparian buffer to protect agricultural land uses
* Reduce the impacts of flooding
* Protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat
* Reduce Pierce's disease pressure on vineyards
* Provide ongoing education about the river and its watershed.

To read the entire article, please click on the following:
http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=news&content=66010&htitle=Growers%20and%20Vintners%20Start%20Napa%20River%20Restoration

The only thing better than a hat with a fish on it is

a hat with 3 fishes on it.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, with their gold shovels are:
Bruce Wolff - Water Board, Larry Stone – President of Rutherford Dust, Davie,
John Williams – Frog’s Leap, Diane Dillon – Supervisor, Richard Thomasser – Flood Control

Pina Brothers Wine Tasting Video

As some of you already know, I come up with some pretty weird stuff.
Five years ago, I got this weird idea about making a Piña wine tasting video.
I convinced the brothers to go along with it and found some guys that could record it within our budget.
My good friend and former Piña Wine Educator, Tom Shirmang, agreed to moderate.

It’s only 1 minute long and its on YouTube with the following description:
The 4 Pina brothers of Pina Napa Valley taste other Napa Valley wines against their own.

Enough said – Please click on the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmbm178fgf8


And if you enjoyed that, here's another fun video provided by good friends Joe & Lori Bauer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imh4l83wIdg&feature=related

Yes, I think they had been drinking, too!

Instruments of Torture - Evil! Evil! Evil!

Even as you read this, these evil little bastards are multiplying.

We're told that everything in nature has its place and purpose, even mosquitoes, rattlesnakes and poison oak. I have a hard time accepting that, especially when it comes to these *!#&! stickers!

Oh sure , with their tiny little yellow flowers, they were kind of pretty and innocent looking about a month ago. But then the pretty little flowers went away and left the Trojan Horse to release the fruits of the plant in an effort to control the earth.

Sorry it’s slightly out of focus, but above is a picture of one of those fruits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribulus_terrestris
From the Wikipedia link above:
“…A week after each flower blooms, it is followed by a fruit that easily falls apart into four or five single-seeded nutlets. The nutlets or "seeds" are hard and bear two to three sharp spines, 10 mm long and 4–6 mm broad point-to-point. These nutlets strikingly resemble goats' or bulls' heads; the "horns" are sharp enough to puncture bicycle tires and to cause painful injury to bare feet.”
Those are the nutlets in the top picture. I took the other pictures along the shoulder of the Silverado Trail, maybe a half mile North of our winery. If you are interested enough to want to see them for yourself, they are right across the road from the Rutherford Fire Department sub-station. I spent maybe 15 minutes there after work one day this week, taking pictures for this post. When I went to leave, I noticed that my shoes felt different, and this is why:

When I was young and growing up on the Mt. Eden Ranch (Current Rudd & Plumpjack vineyards), there was a county program to eradicate these weeds. I remember the truck driving through the vineyards, but I honestly can’t remember if the plants were physically removed, or just sprayed, but seems I remember a spray tank on the truck (Maybe one of my readers can clarify this). At that time, there was a Western Auto store right on Main Street in St. Helena. We were regular customers there for .22 shells and bicycle tube patches.
The Latin name for this evil plant is Tribulus Terrestri. Cleverly hidden in those letters is the word “Terrible”.

http://www.naturesongs.com/vvplants/puncturevine.html
Gleaning some information from the above site:

Family: Zygophyllaceae, Caltrop Family

Annual Plant Size: Prostrate vine - generally less than 1" (2.5 cm) high, spreading to 5' (1.5 M) long in our area.

Habitat Preferred: Disturbed earth, weedy fields, roadsides Bloom

Color: Yellow tiny flowers

Other Common Names: Goat's head, Bullhead, *!#&! stickers!

Origin: Mediterranean

Comments: This is that obnoxious weed whose seeds are incredibly painful to step on, get tracked into your carpet, puncture your bicycle tires, and have to be pulled out of your pets' paws. The seed pod grows 4 "bullheads" in a circle … when mature it breaks up into 4 separate instruments of torture.

* = * = * = * = *

Yes, I think that descriptor they use: “Instruments of Torture” about sums it up.
Almost daily I hike through the vineyards in that area. On two occasions, I noticed that our Lab mix Yogi had stopped hunting and chasing rabbits, and was following me closely and limping. Both times he had one of these Goat’s Heads stuck in a paw, but being the great dog that he is, he never verbalized or vocalized his discomfort (Do those terms apply to dogs?).

Yogi Bear