Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Kreyer was critical for making the white wine; it cooled the white juice for cold sta-
bilisation, then later on, if the fermentation got too hot, it would enable us to keep the fer-
menting juice at the cooler temperatures required to keep the fruit flavours intact.
'You can't wait,' said Lucille, who had arrived for her visit, 'but you can't harvest without
the Kreyer.'
Sometimes we wanted to shake her and say, 'Wake up to the constraints of real life!' But
we also knew she was right. At that moment the grapes were perfect and we wanted them
to stay that way. One extra day of waiting could make a difference.
We had thirty-six hours until the harvest machine was booked to arrive. Monsieur Bonny
promised to send over his refrigeration expert
tout de suite
.
Ellie had started school a week before, but her first few days were overshadowed by the
looming harvest. At two and a half she had to get on with it, catch the bus and settle in. I
collected the girls and got home to find the Bonny van parked outside the winery and Éric
hard at work. He tried a few things and refilled the gas canister. The unit hummed back to
life. I felt intense relief.
To be sure, Sean asked Éric to do a start with him before he left. Sean tried starting the
Kreyer and it would not murmur. They tried again. Nothing.
'C'est bizarre,'
said Éric. 'I will have to call a refrigeration specialist. It can't be the gas.'
'C'est très, très urgent,'
I said, anxiety cramping my stomach.
The artisan could be with us at eight the next morning. By then we would have less than
twenty-four hours before the harvest machine arrived. Benoit arrived right on time and
tested the Kreyer. An hour later he came in with the motherboard of the unit.
'C'est ça.'
His finger pointed to a large burnt-out section. 'I have ordered a replacement.
It's two thousand euros.'
I felt sick to my core.
'How much would it cost to get a whole new unit?'
'They start at around twenty thousand.'
We had to do the repair. I called Sonia to book a sleepover for the girls. We needed to be
up and working by four in the morning. There would be no room for little people amongst
the heavy machinery of harvest time.
Benoit messaged that the part would arrive that afternoon. We were right down to the wire
but we could not push the harvest out by another day. Ad and I paced up and down each
row carefully, removing everything that had the slightest hint of rot. It was sunny and the
vineyard was glowing with an early hint of autumnal orange on some of the leaves, but we
hardly noticed. The grapes were clean; only three bunches had to be removed. On our re-
turn we found Benoit and Sean huddled over the Kreyer.
They were in the same position when I got back from fetching the girls. They ran to Sean
yelling 'Papa, Papa!' and leapt into his arms. It was the first time I had seen him smile all
day. He kissed them then sent them to me for their
'goûter'
, the afternoon snack of brioche
