Tending the Vines

A worker in a small tractor tends the vines at the Opus One winery in Napa Valley, California. It's amazing how much effort they put into nurturing the vines to maturity -- but as it was explained to us, because Napa wine is so well known and expensive, they can afford to aim for low yield and high quality. Other parts of California (where the vast majority of California wine is grown) tend to have to take a much more industrial approach to viticulture and are expected to get much higher yields out of a similarly sized plot of land. Click to enlarge.