Dear Correspondents--

I am stepping outside of the normal bounds of the California Harvest Report. The genre has a fixed idiom (includes "best ever", excludes "rot") and a conventional manner (cheerful, enthusiastic, high-energy. ) Even the photographs represent a narrow repertoire: mistly landscapes (see left), dumping red fruit into the destemmer, golden retrievers on the crush pad. And why not? the genre has a well-defined purpose—excite interest, sell wine. I have written several of these reports myself; and on our website, you will find a nearly infinite supply of photos depicting friends sorting fruit.
Harvest is an incredibly exciting time—the culmination of a year's growing season, and the birth of any wine that we will ever release, promote, consume. It is natural in every way that the harvest email heeds a well defined and somewhat clichéed script.

So I am varying from that script this year not out of rebelliousness or desire to innovate, but because of the nature of this year's harvest itself. It is δεινος— an Ancient Greek word that means terrible and amazing at once. Something terrible, but that you cannot take your eyes off. That is the nature of this year's harvest. And so it is only right to compose a report in a new mode, one that abandons more cheerful enthusiasm and manages to express a little terror.

I am not going to say any more here; you may read the report below:
You may also view (or forward) it here.

I look forward to hearing from you, as always.