Although harvest officially started at the beginning of this week, grapes have been coming in slowly and in an orderly fashion over the last few days. Tomorrow (yes, Sunday) will be the first day of the “real” harvest; that crazy, everything-happening-at-the-same-time sensation that is the adrenaline rush that all winemakers crave for (yeah, right, if you believe that you’ll believe anything!)
The first white grapes will arrive at the winery just after 7am and will go into the press. Then we’ll bring in some reds while we wait for the press cycle to finish. A second pressing of white grapes over lunchtime with the final bin going into the press at around 3pm. If everything goes according to plan, the last press should end at around 6pm and then it’s cleaning up time. So if all goes well we should be finished by 9pm (“should” being the operative word) with a few midnight pump-overs to end the day.
Meanwhile Pieter will be driving down to Marseille to pick up Louis Nel (winemaker at Hidden Valley Wines in South Africa) who will be here for two weeks. This is a “10th Anniversary Harvest” as Pieter and Louis assisted Ciaran for the 1999 harvest. The Return of the Three Musketeers!
First pump-over of the 2008 harvest
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