The 2007 wine grape harvest began last Friday.

I noticed my neighbors at Meridian/s Cat Canyon Annex Vineyard harvesting pinot grigio by hand. Tractors pulling small two-bin trailers were busy hauling the first fruit of the season to the loading area to be hauled by truck to the waiting presses at the winery.

Our machines began picking chardonnay in the Shandon area the same night.

The pinot noir and chardonnay growing at Premiere Coastal Vineyard, just north of Los Alamos, has at least two to three weeks to go depending on the weather.

I have just started to take my two sugar testers, my kids Kathleen and Clayton, out with me to sample the pinot noir. They both have been watching the fruit change color, patiently waiting to begin tasting the ripest clusters hanging from the vines.

After picking several clusters of pinot noir, we squeezed the berries and let the juice run over the prism on my refractometer. We looked through the eyepiece and saw the dark blue color go up to the 18 mark on the scale. Sweet enough to taste, but a long way to go to hit the 25-plus mark we need at harvest time.

So off the kids went down the row, searching for what they thought would be the sweetest berries to taste. After a while, they came to the conclusion the pinot noir was not quite ready.

As August winds down, I begin to pick up subtle hints that fall is approaching. Early one morning last week, I noticed the sunlight had taken on a softer hue as I looked out over the vines from my pickup window.

I began to notice the change in the late afternoon twilight as well, and it was not due to the smoke from the Zaca Fire still burning far to the east.

These days, the end of August signals the beginning of the school year. In fact, Kathleen and Clayton have begun their classes at Olga Reed Elementary in Los Alamos.

I do not remember starting school before the Labor Day weekend in September, but things do have a way of changing over the years

I remember when I was going to high school and my brother, Dana, and I were just getting started farming on our own. I took several welding classes from Bob Wilkins, the ag teacher and FFA advisor at Santa Ynez Valley High School for many years.

I was never a member of FFA but learned the basics of both arc and oxyacetylene welding there. In fact, my friend Ed Pena and I decided to make a barbecue pit out of an old dairy sink we had at the ranch as a welding project.

Mr. Wilkins just sort of shook his head when he saw what we were going to do, but we convinced him we could make it work, and he helped us with our out-of-the-ordinary project.

It was a double sink made of galvanized metal. Mr. Wilkins was not crazy about us welding in his shop on galvanized metal because it lets off toxic fumes as you weld, but again I talked him into it.

We finished our project a few days before the school year ended in early June, and Mr. Wilkins was glad to see it go. We brought it to the ranch and used it for quite a while, until one afternoon my dad was barbecuing some chicken on it.

One of our design flaws was that it did not have a stop on the crank that raised and lowered the grill, making grill adjustment a little tricky. Many times you could move the crank halfway up, and the grill would be in the right position over the fire, but there was no way to lock it in place.

We had made the crank out of old &#8220sucker rodC from a water well, and it had plenty of rough spots on it that helped hold it in place 7 until one afternoon when dad was standing next to the crank in the halfway position up over his head.

Dad had the grill full of chicken and, while he was reaching for his fork, the crank let loose of its free-standing position and swung around and caught dad right under the chin, lifting him six inches off the ground.

He was lucky he did not lose some teeth or break his jaw.

Needless to say, there was quite a bit of swearing, as Dad went into the house to see if he had any teeth left and have a couple of bourbon-and-waters to calm his nerves.

I think Dana and I finished barbecuing the chicken, staying clear of the crank.

The next day, Dad went down to the hardware store in Solvang and bought a new Weber barbecue. I was told to get that damn thing out of the yard, and the best place for it was the dump.

Well, we just moved it down under some oak trees where we used to have our M&M Hay Co. barbecues, remembering to stay clear of the crank and not ask Dad to do any guest barbecuing on it.

I/m pretty sure it was Ed/s idea not to have a stopping mechanism on the crank. We would all laugh about it later, including Dad.

I went on to Allan Hancock College, took welding classes for two years and became a pretty good welder, skills I use from time to time on the vineyard today.

Enjoy a late summer-early fall afternoon and barbecue your favorite meat. Be sure to include some great Central Coast wine 7 and stay clear of the barbecue crank.

Kevin Merrill is a vineyard manager for Mesa Vineyard Management in Santa Maria. He is president of the Central Coast Wine Growers/ Association Foundation and a board member of the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau. He can be reached at kmerrill@mesavineyard.com.