The vineyard is (mostly) sleeping

In January, the vineyard is sleeping.  The leaves have dropped and the vines are taking a long winters nap. The little buds reassure me that the vines will wake up when spring arrives. But with the warm weather this year, one of the vines actually started flowering and forming little grapes - in January. This particular vine is a "Pam" and obviously self-pollinating, since it was able to form grapes all on it's own. 

It will be interesting to see if these grapes ever undergo veraison.  Veraison is the turning point, at which the fruit softens and the fruit becomes sweet.  Although the harvest usually gets the most attention, veraison is when the magic happens!