All hands on deck …

So the pickers didn’t arrive today.  And the tractor decided to break down.  Chuck Norris wasn’t available on such short notice so we had to rely on the intrepid Aidan to assist in the cellar.

It ain’t heavy …

Vroom, vroom …

Don’t just stand there … do something!

Seeing red!

The harvest is very late this year.  We’ve been having good sunny days recently and hopefully this will continue for the next two weeks until we have all the red grapes safely in the cellar.

Today we took in some Syrah and Grenache. 

Fermenting Syrah

‘Tis the season to get ready for the jolly …

There is a saying that if you want to get something done you should give it to somebody who already has a lot to do and not to someone with nothing to do.  It seems that harvest time is also the best time to get a multitude of other projects finished, such as doing labelling and also packing the gift boxes that our agent in Ireland, Febvre (www.febvre.ie), will be distributing.  The box contains a bottle each of our reserves wines, the l’Archange White 2007 and Red 2005, and will make a wonderful gift for companies to give to valued customers or a present under the Christmas tree.

The Orangina Oenologues

So Louis Nel (winemaker:  Hidden Valley, Stellenbosch, South Africa) arrived last night.  First thing he craved for?  Something not available where he comes from, so he stocked up in Bedoin today.

On the farm it’s been a quiet day winemaking-wise as Ciaran felt that the red grapes were not yet ready to pick yesterday as originally anticipated.  The last of the whites did come in and we got two-and-a-half bins (less than the three bins we had hoped for but also more than the two bins we worried was all that we would get).  The white grapes were treated reductively, i.e. with as little oxygen contact as possible.  To achieve this, the grapes are kept under a blanket of carbon dioxide.

‘n Boer maak ‘n plan …

In Afrikaans there is a saying that directly translated means “a farmer makes a plan”.  So what to do when the aerial of the radio in the cellar packs up?  Well, devise a new aerial, of course:

No hamburgers until after harvest, it seems.

Sunrise Sunday

Today is a big day.  Up at the crack of dawn, well actually, even just before.  This is what it looked like at 07:07 with just a glimmer of daybreak coming over the mountains:

Twenty minutes later and it’s a completely different story:

We were hoping to get three bins of white grapes from the block we are picking today but the vines are very shy-bearing this year.  While this may be good for quality it won’t be good for volume as the DdA Blanc is always in short-supply.  Let’s hope for the best.

Harvest 2008 is on a roll …

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