Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of sulphur dioxide were carefully poured separately into the press tray as the juice ran
through. These were measures to protect the grapes and juice from spoiling on their trip
into the vat. Our vines surrounded the house and winery so they had little distance to travel.
When they got to the winery they were pressed or pumped into the vat immediately rather
than having to wait. The less time grapes have travelling or sitting waiting, the better the
end result, so we could use significantly less sulphur dioxide than a large operation with
moretravelandwaitingtime.Thiswasimportant fororganicwinemaking, whereweaimed
for lower levels of sulphur dioxide, or 'sulphites' as it is labelled on the bottle, than conven-
tional wine. The juice level in the press tray was monitored continuously and judiciously
pumped to keep air bubbles to a minimum. As soon as another load arrived we would start
the frenzied round again.
Three harvest trailers and two press loads later, we had 2,000 litres of sauvignon blanc
which would net us about 150 cases of finished wine. Sean started our Kreyer cooling unit
using our second pump. The pump ran for a few minutes then stopped. Ad, a qualified
mechanic, dismantled it and found the axel had broken. It was Sunday and Sean was
doomed to juggling cooling the wine with one pump.
After lunch we raced back out to prepare for harvesting the rest of the white grapes the
following day just as Lucille arrived to check how our first day had gone. It was the week-
endandshewasaccompanied byanextremely handsome boyfriend.Heclearly wasalong-
term item, which helped to lay my crazy suspicion finally to rest.
'We may need to bring the merlot in this coming week as well,' she said as they prepared
to leave. It was not the news we wanted to hear. We were exhausted but preparations and
work on the sauvignon blanc kept us up until midnight.
The 'blue monster', as John dubbed the harvest machine, could be heard approaching well
before 5 a.m. The heady scents of sémillon wafting on the warm night air provided a fore-
taste of what was to come in our white wine blend. The moon was still high and an owl
swooped down as I ran through the vines indicating vineyard markers to Jean-François, the
driver, my heart racing with adrenalin. I reached the last marker and waved goodbye to the
driver, then jogged back to the winery.
We were old hands that day, splurging a drizzle of precious liquid as we pumped our first
load into the press. When we finished the day's harvest Sean proudly drew off jugfuls of
sémillon juice for us, then turned his attention to the sauvignon blanc, which needed to be
drawn off its heavy sediment before fermentation started. We drank the luxurious liquid,
full-bodied and sweet, less zesty than the sauvignon blanc but with a dimension of opu-
lence from the varietal and the old vines.
Then it was back to cleaning presses, harvest trailers and buckets. Although we had only
met Ad and Lijda briefly, they were already close friends. Working in pressured circum-
stances helped us get to know each other.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search