California is known for its abundance of wineries and vineyards; in many valleys of the state thousands of acres of land are coated with European Wine Grapes (Vitis vinifera), and these old vineyards, with their brick wineries and overshadowing live oaks are quite beautiful. But there is another grapevine in California which is not noticed most of the year. The grapes are good only for wildlife; they taste bitter and tart to humans, but the birds seem to relish them. It has soft leaves, more rounded than its European cousin, and grows wild in wet areas, climbing up oaks and cottonwoods and dangling down; cascading down the steep wet slopes of creek valleys. Most of the time it blends in with the vegetation. However, for whatever reason, this plant turns bright yellow and orange in the fall, earlier than any other plant. Old oaks turn into cascades of gold; coast range canyons of black rock are painted with flowing oozing yellow which seems to literally pour out of the hills.