la gramiere

             

                   

 

On Friday the 9th we started picking around 10:00 am. We decided to start a bit later in order to let the ground soak up a bit more of the water. It was cloudy but it didn't rain so we got a good start on our big vineyard. We had lots of people too. Our friends Rhonda and Lori had arrived from the states, Matt's mom Joan was here as well as my dad and a few loyal friends. The worst part about doing all of this yourself is that after a long day of picking you have about 2 hours of work left back in the "cave" or winery when you get home. I'll explain to you how we did things, every winery is different, but this is how we organized it. We loaded the red and gray cases full of grapes onto the Hertz rental van that we used to transport the grapes. Once the van was full, we drove back to the house where you unload the cases and put the grapes through a de-stemming machine that removes the stems and then pumps the slurry of grapes and their juice into the vats. (see pictures above) Then we added a small amount of SO2 which is a preservative, and yes, is considered ok for organic winemaking. The first week since it was so hot, we used a cooling system to bring down the temperature of the grapes and juice once they were in the vat. The cooling system we have is a stainless steel tank used for chilling milk, we filled it instead with water and pumped the very cold water through stainless steel panels we call drapeau that act as sort of a radiator to circulate cold water through them. Then we waited, it would take several days for the fermentation to start, we are not adding any commercial yeasts or enzymes, only the naturally occuring yeasts will serve to make our little organic wine! Amazingly, it worked with out any problems, funny what mother nature can do without human intervention!

Where should I start? Well yes, I have let you all down, I promised to keep this updated, but I was just too busy and too tired! We got up at 5am and usually came home around 7 pm only to have two more hours of work in the cellar! Now, of course this doesn't sound unusual to all who are in the wine business, but for those of you who aren't, I wanted you to understand. On Monday the 5th we finished picking the Syrah vineyard in the rain! It started raining pretty early on and by the time we finished we were soaked. Not exactly what we had hoped for, but we were really happy to get the rest in before everything got too water logged. Everything was in by 4:00 pm and then we just watched it rain. Matt popped a hole in one of the trailor tires so we had to leave it out there and hoped to get new tires the next day. It rained all day Tuesday, the autoroute was closed inbetween Nimes and Montpellier, all of the schools were closed, the TGV stopped, everyone was thinking of the floods in 2002. Luckily the rain stopped the next morning and we all breathed a sigh of relief, there wasn't any major flooding in the area and the rain had come gradually so there wasn't too much that was washed out. Wednesday we waited since it would have been extremely muddy in the vineyards, and we wanted to give the grapes a chance to dry out. We had no idea if the enologist would want us to wait or if he would tell us to go ahead and pick so I waited until I got ahold of him to make a decision. He said as soon as we could get into the vineyards to go ahead and start, and to get everything in as soon as possible, before the fruit started to rot... So, even though they called for more rain in the forecast, we all went out Thursday morning with rain gear in hopes that we could start picking again. When we got there the sky looked threatening, then it started to pour down rain. So, plush as we are, we decided to go have a coffee in the village and wait it out, maybe it was just a brief shower. The whole time we were at the cafe, it didn't rain, but as soon as we got back, it started to sprinkle again, then the sky opened up, and it didn't stop until late that night. The amount of rain that fell was amazing, it just didn't let up. Meanwhile, Matt and my sister Molly stayed behind to change the tires on the tractor trailer, and ended up getting both the big rental van and Molly's rental car stuck in the mud! What a day, just as I was pulling up to rescue them, they succeeded in getting Molly's rental car out, but the van would have to wait until the rain stopped.

Sunday was such an amazing day! It started out a bit cloudy which was such a relief. We started picking right away with Peter, my mom, Matt and I, then it seemed as if all morning people kept arriving. Serge, Nick and Jack, Sophie, Benedikt, Leonore and Gaspard...they just kept coming. I think at one point we must have had 30 people out there and it was so much fun. Kids were running around and riding on the tractor, buckets were being filled, cases were being loaded, and before we knew it, we had finished the 1-hectare vineyard we were picking! What a great feeling! Then we went up to the next vineyard, which is the Syrah vineyard owned by our friends Peter and Lucy. We got a good start on it, and then realized that we were all pooped, so we stopped knowing that we would definitely be able to finish it on Monday.

             

                   

 

Wow what a way to start the harvest, the weather was beautiful but oh so hot, 36 degrees, which translates to about 97 degrees Fahrenheit. Not a cloud in the sky and not a breeze to be felt. Ugh. Luckily we have some very dedicated and crazy friends who labored under the hot Provençal sun in order to help us bring in the first of our grapes! It was so exciting! Each picker had a bucket; once their bucket was filled they dumped it into a waiting box, which we then loaded onto a trailer behind the tractor.  Finally when we had collected all of the boxes we loaded them into a rented van and zoomed them back to the house. All of the grapes go through a destemmer and are then pumped directly into our newly installed vats. We then put in the “drapeau” or cooling plate. This is a stainless steel panel that circulates very cold water through it in order to bring down the temperature of the grapes. Since it was so hot outside, we were very glad to have purchased the equipment at the last minute! We got about a third of the vat full before the heat got the best of all of us, so we called it a day. Pictures will come tomorrow when my dad arrives with the cable for my mom's camera!

                                  

Sorry! It's been a VERY busy week, but here we are the night before the harvest, and we are pretty much ready. Down to the wire though. The vats (or cuves) were delivered today, what a relief. Here are some pictures of how it went. We miraculously, against all odds, have electricity, and so far all of the machines work! Keep your fingers crossed. Tomorrow we have a small crew starting out, better to get ourselves organized, and then Sunday, I think we'll have a lot of people, including many of my choir mates who will add a lot of atmosphere by singing lots of wine songs. It's going to be super hot this weekend, which is a shame for the pickers! Hopefully everyone will remember to bring their hats! I promise to keep you up to date on what we're doing...I promise...