The Labor Day weekend is upon us, and during it I will be catching up on a bit of R&R out in woodsy Deerfield, MA -- a town that never fails to remind me of the New England Lake Wobegon, where the men are strong, the women are good-looking and all the children are above average. I plan on finishing up the latest New Yorker, the last two issues of The Economist, and several good books.

Speaking of books, I've just finished a book or two on the wine industry. The latest was George Taber's well-written Judgement of Paris, which chronicles the events up to, during, and beyond Steven Spurrier's 1976 Paris wine tasting that had two California upstart wineries beating out the esteemed French wine establishment.

There will be more on the book and tasting later, though a fact only briefly mentioned by Taber is appropriate given the upcoming holiday: That the whole of the modern California wine industry would not have been possible but for the immigrant laborers that show up during harvest to pick, carry, sort, and crush the grapes that eventually make the wine in the bottle.

Ironically, Labor Day often falls during harvest -- those very same field workers will be celebrating the holiday hauling box after box of grapes -- but if you pour a glass of wine this weekend, raise a toast to them. Otherwise, we'd still be looking east for most of our quality wine.