HOT DAYS, COOL NIGHTS, FRESH FLAVOR

Summer as it lives in memory is infused with the still valley heat that

lingers late into those uniquely long, carefree nights. But the reality of

Wine Country summer is more complicated. The searing, dry heat of high summer

days is often tempered by the cooling fog that rolls in with sunset. In truth,

the evenings are as often chilly as balmy. The ripening grapes of course

depend on this interplay of hot and cold. It is one of the many contrasts that

define the season.

For all the gray months spent longing for summer sun, sometimes the actual

arrival of inescapable heat triggers instead the instinct to seek shade. In

this issue, we offer some insider tips on where the shade is the deepest and

most cooling. Or just pull over beneath the shadow of a spreading roadside

oak. Consider our choices on picnic provisions or improvise for yourself this

most seasonal of meals. The summertime back roads reveal another contrast as

the lush, green vineyards stand in relief against the dry, golden hills. It is

the perfect time to stop at a farmers market or roadside stand to sample the

serial harvests. From the fleeting peach to the ever-present tomato, the pace

picks up.

There are little harvests everywhere. In June, it is the fields of

lavender. By August, fruits and vegetables are filling the stalls. By summer's

end, the bounty of fields and backyard gardens is everywhere as friends trade

boxes of tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and always zucchini. All this ripening is

just the prelude to the single-minded harvest that will follow - the

full-throttle push to bring in the grapes.

Catherine Barnett

Executive Editor