It's mid-September as I write this, and the harvest has begun. It's been a gorgeous growing season. The first-picked fruit - pinot noir and chardonnay meant for sparkling wine - is coming in clean and beautiful. A palpable sense of excitement is in the air, accompanied by crossed fingers and knocking on wood. With a little continued cooperation from Mother Nature, 2007 promises to be a truly stellar vintage.

Every time I go out and talk with working winery owners and vineyard managers, my respect for them increases. Like countless generations of farmers before them, they're a hardy and optimistic lot. And make no mistake, growing grapes is farming, with all its back-breaking labor and nerve-wracking uncertainty. Every year is a fresh gamble, but their passion for what they do keeps them going. European vinifera vines are more susceptible to bad weather, disease and harmful insects than many other crops; it takes careful management to keep them healthy. As for the larger pests, even if you can keep the deer away, Hitchcockian flocks of starlings might swoop down and make a feast of your grapes before all your nets are up. And the work goes on year round. Even in the dead of winter, someone has to be out in the vineyard, pruning and preparing the vines to produce good fruit come spring. Keeping a keen eye on the weather forecast is a necessary obsession, especially as harvest nears. Should you pick before the predicted storm, or sweat it out, counting on the sunshine thatÕs supposed to follow? You get only one crop a year, so the wrong decision can cost you dearly. Then there's the unpredictable - a sudden hailstorm, a veering hurricane, a freak tornado - all of which can shred an entire vineyard in an instant. If the end result of all this hard work and worry is a healthy crop gathered safely in, everyone breathes a sigh of relief - and then the winemaker's work begins in earnest. So the next time you're enjoying the delightful liquid fruit of Long Island's vines, raise a hearty toast to the grape farmer who toiled long and hard to bring it to you.
Good health!
Jane Starwood, editor