Grapes into Wine
The grape harvest is now complete and our wine is coming along.
It took us a few hours last Thursday to gather in the grapes from our vines. Altogether, we collected 26 large buckets (of about 25kg each), 18 of white grapes and 7 of black (tinto). The hardest part of the job was carrying the buckets up through the garden to our neighbour's cellar, where we were to make the wine. Once gathered there, they had to be run through a press (a bit like an old-fashioned mangle, with two rollers turned by hand) into the large concrete vat where first fermentation takes place. The neighbour, Orlando, had already decided that the grapes would be mixed this year (unlike last) to simplify the process. As a result, we'll end up with wine something akin to a rose.
After crushing all our grapes into the vat, we hardly seemed to have wet the bottom; someone reckoned perhaps 200 litres. In fact, it might have been more like 300 litres. Still, nothing like the 800 litres of wine (not crushed grapes) that has been mentioned as the productive capacity of our vines. But we are not complaining -- it's a dry year anyway (which reduces the harvest) and anyway there's a limit to how much wine we can drink!
Anyway, over the following two days, we harvested from Orlando's vines as well, completely filling the vat to overflowing. In the end, we had to draw off about 400 litres of the liquid into plastic barrels to accommodate all the crushed grapes. Within a couple of hours, the mass of liquid and crushed grapes was fermenting; a lovely bubbling sound accompanied by foam rising out of the vat. This initial fermentation is allowed to continue for a few days; it is during this time that the colour of the wine develops (from the skins of the black grapes).
During these few days, the barrels are prepared. They have to be washed, then soaked so the wood expands and tightens everything up. The access doors in the ends are sealed up, and airlocks prepared. Today, we filled the first barrel -- a large 500 litre one. Tomorrow the remainder will be filled -- perhaps another three. Filling is another manual process. The wine is drawn out from a tap at the bottom of the vat into 20 litre jugs. These have to be hefted up and into a funnel atop the barrel. It's hard work; 500 litres means lifting up the jug 25 times.... Half a ton of wine lifted up to shoulder height and poured in.
When the barrel was full, Orlando announced that it was 'ours'. Very kind of him, as our contribution was in reality less than 300 litres of liquid. But it does reflect the glut of wine in this area; everyone makes their own. If Orlando doesn't give wine away, what is he going to do with 2,000 litres a year! There's never a shortage in our village, and everyone offers us bottles all the time. So, we chalked the words 'Quinta da Meg' on the end of the barrel, and when the wine is ready we can go in and decant off a bottle (or ten) whenever we want to. Lovely!
