At about 7:30 this morning we officially started picking the 2006 La Gramière! It was very exciting, but also frustrating as there are always little things that go wrong on the first day. This morning the tractor wouldn't start and we had to jump the battery. Later Matt decided to stop and buy a new one since it wouldn't hold the charge... 
Oddly enough, there was a heavy fog over Castillon du Gard this morning. It almost felt like we were in Burgundy. It lasted until about 10:00 and then the sun broke through and it quickly became unbearably hot. Yuck. It's terrible when you have friends that have come out to help and the weather doesn't cooperate. Luckily, everyone was in good spirits, and everyone that came out today said they would return at some point during the week. So it must not have been that bad.
I'm sorry, surely there's much more to tell you but my back is aching and I can barely keep my eyes open! Just so you understand what kind of operation this is, you must know that Matt and I (and my mom!) were out there picking grapes all day along with our friends. We then loaded the boxes of grapes into the van, took them back and put them through the destemmer. After picking, we cleaned all of the cases, hoses, the destemmer and the buckets, loaded them back into the truck where they await tomorrow's picking! We could never do this without all of our friends and family.
I got two different readings from the grenache we picked today. One said 13.5 and the other almost 14.5 potential alcohol. I'm hoping it ends up more around the 13.5 mark. We'll know when we see the enologist later this week. I was on top of the vat trying to judge how much was in there, and suddenly I got a whiff of the freshly crushed grapes. Wonderful! You can smell the sweet grapey quality, but there is also a definite spiciness to it, and the juice tastes oh, so good!
Sleep tight everyone, I'll see you tomorrow in the vineyards!
Dear Amy, it sounds both terrifying and transcendant. I [almost] envy you all the trials and tribs.
Good luck...and I too hope the alcohol level will be on the lower side...hey, you're not in California for a reason!
Posted by: Terry Hughes | September 08, 2006 at 02:54 AM
PS--Your friends all look way too well dressed to be paysans, pickin' the grapes.
Posted by: Terry Hughes | September 08, 2006 at 02:55 AM