La Vendange, Part 1: the White

La Vendange has started!  We don't really have that many vines; It just seems like it.  We have app. 360 rose wine vines, 200 red wine vines and 100 white wine vines.  Each year, starting in January they have to be trimmed, tied, thinned, trimmed, sprayed, sprayed and sprayed (Bourdeaux Mixture) and, finally picked.  The picking part is the one that every one enthuses about; the end product; warm September days in the sun picking luscious, juicy grapes.   No one ever waxes poetical about standing in the freezing muck in February, trimming....I digress.
It's time for the fun part.  Still, there is a lot of work preparatory to the picking. The picking buckets have to be washed.  The big, food-grade plastice bins have to be sterilized.  The small press and the large press have to be scrubbed and sterilized, all the pressing boards hosed down, the secateurs located, then the whole lot left to dry in the sun.  Then, we get to pick.  Yesterday we picked the white.  It's not much work, sort of a trial run to get us in the mood for the big job.  We use the small press for the white wine.  There aren't enough grapes for the big one.  We don't have a mechanical crusher so the white grapes are put into the big plastic bins and 'crushed' with a big wooden mallet.  (We borrow our neighbors crusher for the big crop - it's rather old, He's 93 and the crusher was made by his granfather.) We don't let the white grapes sit, but press them right away.  We have a small press that will do all of our white grapes in 3 batches.  We have a very poor crop this year.  The first year we got around 50 litres (65 bottles).  This year we only expect about 25 litres.  Did I mention that we have no clue as to how to tend grapes?
After the juice is pressed out we have this lovely compact 'cake' that makes a great addition to the compost pile - gets everything fermenting nicely...although the smell and the bees will keep one away from it for weeks...
We put it into a 25 litre glass jug for the initial fermentation, then we'll rack it off and put it into a  new oak barrel (a little one) for about 6 months.  The first year's white we threw out; last year's was drinkable, we have hope for this year.
This is Sedi, the grape eating dog.  She wouldn't touch a piece of fruit if you handed it to her, but, take her to the vineyard when we're picking and she very happily runs along the vines eating as many of the low hanging grapes as she can grab. 
Today: the red and rose....Tonight, the long hot bath ....Off to work....

Comments

[Jann Mumford]

this is all so fascinating and interesting..what an ordeal! And, where does one find a grape eating doggie?I hope that it all turns out perfectly this year!!

[Mimi]

Ordeal is right.

I feel as though I have been there, working!

Thanks, Katie — it looks like...fun?

[katie]

We have great hopes for this year. Instead of making it the proper way we're taking the old farmer's advice. He's got 90 years of experience...