The summer has been so cold out here in coastal California that I’ve been hibernating with all the grapes that are going to hit maybe 12.% alcohol this year. Or something like that.
Driving up the coast last week (end of July), Ventura to San Francisco, via my car’s outside temperature display:
Ventura, 10am, 67 degrees (fog)
Santa Barbara, 10.45am, 66 degrees (sun and fog)
Top of San Marcos Pass, 11.15am, 71 degrees (sunny)
Santa Maria Valley, within site of the Bien Nacido vineyard, 12.15pm, 63 degrees (fog, some sun)
Pismo Beach, 12.35pm, 66 degrees (fog)
San Luis Obispo, 12.55pm, 70 degrees (clearing fog, sun)
Paso Robles, 1.30pm, 89 degrees (sun)
San Miguel area, 1.45pm, 91 degrees (sun)
Gonzales (roughly Santa Lucia Highlands, Chalone), 2.35pm, 68 degrees (fog-sun)
Salinas, 3pm, 65 degrees (fog, wind)
Morgan Hill, 4.15pm, 71 degrees (sun, patchy clouds, bullshit traffic)
Cupertino (below Monte Bello), 5pm, 69 degrees (sun, fog to the north)
San Francisco, 5.55pm, 52 degrees (fog, wind, mist)
Summer 2010 on the California coast.
spume 