Veraison HDR

King Family Vineyards, Crozet Virginia

“Veraison HDR“

Here’s another picture of wine grapes on the vine. Have I mentioned the epic “150 wineries in 150 days” never-ending Virginia wine tour? Yeah, I think I have. Maybe a couple times. Next week I will try to work in some images from the archives or other trips I haven’t posted yet, but for now we’re still in a vineyard.

I had never given the life of a wine grape much thought before we started this “Virginia Wine In My Pocket” adventure. I was a wine drinker, not a wine maker. Visiting all these wineries, I have learned that actually all grapes pretty much start out green. Then about mid-way through the growing season, they change color. Red wine grapes will turn from green to red, purple, and then nearly to black (when they’re about ready to harvest). White grapes will go from green to a golden color. The process is called “veraison.”

What I like about this shot is that we don’t usually see pictures of grapes on the vine, with the individual grapes in each bunch actually being different colors. I suppose it is obvious (once one knows about veraison), but I’d never thought about it.

King Family Vineyards happens to have a red wine vineyard right next to the parking lot. We were there when the grapes were just in the beginning of veriason. The individual grapes in the bunches were a veritable rainbow of different colors as they changed. It was a bright, sunny day and the shadows were deep and dark. HDR was the only way to go if I hoped to get a shot with the grapes in foreground and the green fields and blue sky in background.

(Nikon D700; Nikkor 24-85mm zoom lens at 24mm. HDR image from nine exposures at f/11 and range of shutter speeds and ISO settings covering a range from -4 to +4 EV around ISO 200 at 1/60 sec.)
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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 25th, 2010 at 00:07 AM. It is filed under Land & Air, thePhotoTourist, Virginia Wine In My Pocket and tagged with 150 Wineries in 150 Days Tour, app, bunch, bunch of grapes, color, grapes, iPhone, King, King Family, King Family Vineyards, King Family Vineyards and Winery, King Family winery, travel, veraison, vineyard, Virginia, Virginia Wine In My Pocket, wine, wine grapes, wineries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.