Day 4 – Weekend Grape-O-Mania
September 9th, 2006 | Uncategorized
Any weekend is always the busiest time during harvest. For the majority of our suppliers growing grapes is not a full-time occupation, and so at the weekend they take full advantage of their free time to call in family, friends and even distant acquaintances to collect grapes. Consequently we are inundated with grapes carried in all shapes and sizes of vehicle. (We do however prohibit caravans, and the entry to our grape reception is actually booby-trapped and can detect a chemical toilet from 5km).
Seriously though, we have worked around the clock, and kept grapes moving through the cellars at a rapid rate. The photo above was taken at one of our peak moments on Saturday evening – believe it or not there are actually four people working behind these pallets loading grapes that have just arrived into the presses. Pretty much every grape so far has been pressed within two hours of arriving, and many much less than this – if possible they go direct.
By the end of the weekend we should have ‘broken the back’ of this year’s campaign, and should be past the halfway point, simply because of the weekend volumes….. and who said that Sunday was a day of rest!
P.S. I lied about the caravans….. it’s actually only 4km!