Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The wine Vendange 2009


It is that time of year again, after a long hot summer bathed in sunshine the grapes are plump, ripe and brimming with sweetness to make next years wine. So by way of a tiny contribuition I spent yesterday picking grapes. The vineyard is closeby in the Luberon, the weather was ideal a warm sunlit day.It is back breaking work though - well for an amateur like me.



Close scrutiny was required as some grapes had been damaged by Odium, a mildew caused by the rain earlier in the summer (incredibly it has only rained here 3 times since June that I recall).


This is what we were looking for! These grapes, Grenache, will be used in both the red and rose wines. The recent warm weather has increased their alcohol content to 15%! a wine with some punch.(It will be lowered in the production process)


It really does not take long to fill these buckets which have to be processed quite quickly after picking.


The vineyard is in a lovely setting, close to the Luberon with the Domaine producing about 26000 bottles of wine, all Cote du Luberon. The most popular are the Reds and rose.



The grapes are tipped into this stalking machine - well a 'de-stalker' actually before they are crushed.



We picked through the day starting at 8am. Thankfully the process was interupted with a most enjoyable and relaxing lunch set in the courtyard.


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