After a very dry, almost boarding on drought, and unusually warm early spring, the late spring has proved a wet one indeed. Most every day for the past two weeks has seen daily cloud cover, cooler weather, and afternoon showers.

Overall, I am not complaining about rain. Since we dry farm our vineyards, regular rain at the right times of the year is important. And after the very unusual dry early spring, which in part contributed to many forest fires this spring in Hungary, we definitely need the rain.

But timing is everything, and rain now is not an ideal condition for the wine, because we have just entered the bloom.

Some crop loss due to fungus may be unavoidable. A depressing proposition indeed.

But to some benefit, we have not had to water our tomatoes for weeks.

Mother Nature is simply one of those unpredictable joys of farming which we can not change, and must take in stride.