(Wines&Vines) - Napa and Sonoma grapegrowers report extended hang time and steady picking pace, yielding healthy and "happy" grapes.

Napa Valley began its countdown to harvest mid-July when the Napa Valley Grapegrowers (NVG) announced that veraison was officially underway. But one didn’t have to count down very far, as just one month later those winery newsletters, press releases and Instagram accounts riddled with photos of color-changing buds, quickly changed to those of fully-plumped grapes, midnight picking and the all-too appetizing imagery of those grapes macerating in their own jammy juices.