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20 February 2013

Saturday 9 February Grape picking

The alarm went off at 5.30am while it was still dark outside – we grape pickers work best in the cooler part of the day. It was up and out with just a short drive to the Glandore estate where we joined forty friends of the winery who'd also come to help today. David Stowe's (owner of Glandore) grapes had been picked last weekend so we were to help his neighbour bring in their harvest. David employs the winemaker, Duane Roy, to make his wine and the other small vineyards bring their fruit to him for making too.
yes, these taste like grapes

pickers at work



While we were waiting to leave (and having a cup of tea) I noticed everyone, except David and I who have sandal / trainer hybrids and bare feet, had full shoes and socks or boots. Why? In case of snakes came the reply! In the end we didn't see any snakes, some big spiders, but no snakes.
bringing in the harvest
It wasn't a long day; we picked from 7.30am to 11am when it was decided too warm for the grapes (and pickers) and we returned to the winery for a buffet lunch with a keg of local beer for anyone in need of refreshment of the amber kind. We had a tour of the wine making barn, shown all the machines and four large aluminium vats of grapes pressed four days ago. These are open to the elements as wine making is not covered by food standard laws, no need for stringent hygiene. The vats are open. There are snail shells mixed in with the skins which have been pumped on top of the extracted juice to add flavour and it has a pungent aroma, sulphur is one of the elements. The wine is bubbling as it ferments. It's a living thing. Duane dug his hangs in and pulled back the skins to reveal the purple liquid underneath and then dunked in a wine glass and gave us a taste. Yes, it had the makings of wine, a tempranillo if I remember correctly.
Our afternoon was free; some people went to visit other wineries for tastings, we went back to the hotel for a swim, or in David's case, a sleep.
Then it was back to Glandore for a big barbecue and more wine tasting; David (Stowe) brings out his best vintages, neighbouring vintners bring bottles from their estates and members of the wine club who were there had brought interesting and / or rare bottles to taste. The food was good, conversation lively and the opportunity to taste so fine many fine wines unrivalled. And all this hospitality in return for four short hours picking? Best wages we've earned in a long time.

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