Mustard? Who knew?

After the harvest, when vines are getting ready to sleep away the winter a new plant is getting ready to bloom. This particular plant is used to incorporate nitrogen into the soil which allows an abundance of foliage on the vines, which in turn protects the fragile grapes from the sun during growing season. The plant I speak of is mustard! That right, mustard. Here in beautiful California it's amazing how the seasons are the complete opposite from the majority of the rest of the country... i.e. Being from the east coast, the summer months is when you get most of your rain and the grass is green. Here in wine country it is the exact opposite. In the summer months, the grass is dry and the plant life struggles to survive, where as in the winter, the rains are abundant and plant life thrives. Maybe this is why we produce some of the best wine in the world. For such a young wine growing region - in respect to the countries that have been doing this longer than we have even been around, we being the united states - I am thoroughly impressed with the progress we have made in the industry, and the attention that is paid to every detail. Who knew planting mustard in the winter would be such an important part of how the following year's crop will turn out?