The 'vendenge' or grape harvest is rapidly approaching. The month of August is the time to prepare both in the cave and in the fields. Wine that is not ready yet to be bottled is transferred from tank to tank. Those storage tanks were then cleaned with high pressure water to remove all the deposits. The tractor made its way up and down the fields clearing the way for the harvesters. As we are a 'bio'winery, we don't treat our grapes. This means not using fertilizers nor weed killer. The result, rows of vines with grassy hillocks in between that need to be trimmed before the workers can traipse in to clip the grapes.
After closely monitoring the grapes throughout the summer, one final step in needed before finalizing the start of the harvest. As this was a difficult summer due to the unusual weather conditions, these final days before the harvest are imperative to the timing of each fields pick date. Raphael spend this past week taking grape samples from each field and grape variety, pressing them and placing in mini bottles. They were then sent to the wine university of Suze la Rousse to be analized for sugar content, acidity and PH. The more sugar in the grapes, the higher the alcohol percentage in the wine. Right now it's between 9 and 11%. And we like our wine to be at a nice high 14%. This means a delayed start this year. According to Raphael, we'll be lucky even then to make our percentage goals.
 No, we don't do this with our feet during the harvest. Ever seen A Walk in the Clouds with Keanu Reeves? I've mentioned a few times to Raphael that it might be fun to invite a group of people to the winery for an end of season party and he could save just a few buckets of grapes for us all to stomp on- the married women at least. Of course, that would be after we each consumed a few glasses of wine (14% alcohol please). He then asked, as his mind is likely to go in such directions, if I was thinking we'd be naked. Okay, maybe after a few bottles of wine and we'll take that 15% rose you made last year please.
 For the samples, he presses the grapes with his hands. (I'll be uploading a picture of his hands next. They're quite a lovely purplish black now.) The bottles are then labeled with the field name and the grape varietal coming from that parcel of land.
 This is what happens to the leftovers. Too bad it hasn't been fermented yet. I'd volunteer for this phase.
|
