MAYNARD'S VINTAGE REPORT: ARIZONA

Bubbles over Judith: Maynard James Keenan's photo of his Nagual del Judith block at Jerome Arizona yesterday. 

"Judith's Nebbiolo, Aglianico and  Tempranillo," he writes, "with Nebbiolo in the photo. It'll be her first vintage of Neb & Agli. 

"Harvest is well under way. Finding that by setting less fruit (as long as it's in balance with the canopy) we're seeing our numbers aligning near perfectly while still achieving phenolic ripeness. By not being greedy with fruit set, we're harvesting earlier AND avoiding the monsoons we usually end up getting hammered with by leaving fruit hanging longer.

"Great acid levels, lower pH, brown seeds at lower sugar levels. Balance. Or so it seems. Time will tell. 

"We're announcing Puscifer tour dates and album cover today. Hoping it leads to a trip down under."

Me too, dear Brother. Bacchus and Pan blessings for the rest of the vintage business. Bon temps roulez.

Healing, healing ... different place, different colour, different smell: Penfolds Magill winemaker Jason Barrett with Maynard and Ray Beckwith's pH meter, receiving the vibratin voodoo vintage blessin from Rasputin in the administrations chamber in the hillside deep behind The Grange ... photo Milton Wordley, who escaped without singe marks