Travail dans la cave...

Phew, this year is a bit tricky as far as vinification goes, we're pumping over every day, trying to give the wine lots of air.  The colors are beautiful but the tannins are a bit on the light side, we'll see how it turns out in the end!! It'll definitely be a good year, maybe not a tannic monster, but lots of pretty fruit, that's not so bad! 

One of the things I find most frustrating in our winery is the lack of space. When we are working, there's always a hose, a pump, a bucket to be tripped over, and usually by the end I'm cursing at one of them, and at myself.  Climbing up and down the ladder, putting the hose in the vat, opening the tap, climbing back up to make sure it's in there, then turning on the pump.  Sometimes I turn on the pump, the hose lurches and flies out of the vat, while the juice is spraying out and I get a good sticky shower of fermenting grape juice!  Luckily it's not often.  Usually, I'm leaning as far as I can, holding the hose and trying to turn the pump on without falling over or loosing hold of the hose... If only Matt didn't work for Cisco and have to return to his day job after harvest, then I'd have someone to hold the hose for me...

Comments

[Steve]

Interesting photos. I guess I never pictured the pumping over process before. So the juice is drawn from the bottom of the vat through the silver spigot into the blue tub; then the hose takes it back up to the top of the tank, correct? I guess I didn't realize that aeration was the goal.