Harvest parties of all kinds are filling everyone’s schedule now in Napa Valley.

The big, the small, the snazzy, the rustic. In one such gathering, last Saturday night, under a glowing full moon, a hundred devoted fans joined Tom and Lauren Scott in Yountville to celebrate the release of their storied 2006 cabernet sauvignon, Barn Burner. In true Napa Valley form, Tom Scott Vineyards is a combination of passion, commitment, and plucky hard work.

Like millions of Americans, Tom Scott has an alarm clock at his bedside. But Tom’s alarm is different – it’s hooked up to a thermometer. If this buzzer sounds, it means that the temperature in Tom’s vineyard has dipped to 34 degrees. This respected Napa Valley vintner must pull on heavy overalls and rubber boots, and rush to the vines that sit behind his home. He then turns on the fans that ward away dangerous frost. Barn Burner, Tom Scott’s field-blend cabernet sauvignon, is hand crafted, with only 300 cases produced each year, so he can’t afford to lose even one vine.

It’s getting chilly here in Napa Valley. This morning, in St. Helena, we awoke to the thermometer wobbling at around 39 degrees—and it must have been even colder during the night. I wondered if Tom Scott, a one-man-band, had gone into the vineyard to protect his fruit? To make it a Barn Burner, I realized, someone has to put the boots on.

Patricia Calfee is a Napa Valley local & blogger. You can read more of her work online at So Many Wineries.