The dreaded chore of cleaning is well under way, and there are areas of the bodega that are already returning to their more usual appearance – clean and well ordered. The space that bears the initial brunt of the annual harvest onslaught, our grape reception, is already clean, albeit that the 2,000 odd plastic cases we use for gathering our fruit are still piled high at the back of the building, awaiting their turn to be blasted with our jet washers. These cases and our grape reception actually have one thing in common – they are both only used for about one week out of every year, the rest of the time they simply gather dust!

Meanwhile, inside the winery, more tanks have now been seeded at the start of their alcoholic fermentation. As we all know, this is the process that converts the grape juice into wine, but one of the things that we cannot afford to forget is that winemaking not only creates alcohol, but also produces significant amounts of carbon dioxide. For this reason, our bodega is fitted with a powerful extraction system that blows air through the cellar at a rate of knots – once switched on the constant background hum of their motors serves as a subliminal reminder that fermentation is in progress. They are not switched off until the last tank has finished its transformation. Of course carbon dioxide at these levels, is a killer, and very occasionally, even putting your face too close to the top of a fermenting tank will take your breath away, and leave you gasping for air. Perhaps in a slightly more sinister fashion, concentrations of as little as 7% to 10% (which are largely odourless) can cause eventual suffocation. Symptoms begin with slight dizziness and headache, leading to visual and hearing dysfunction, and finally unconsciousness. This can all happen in less than an hour, which is why we have to remain very vigilant throughout.

TRAGIC FOOTNOTE: This is really quite odd, and extremely distressing. Only a few hours after posting this story I have learned of the tragic death of a young winemaker, caused by carbon dioxide suffocation. In the D.O. of Bierzo (which borders on Galicia), 25 year old Nerea Pérez died when she was overcome by this odourless gas and fell into the vat. She was discovered by her uncle, himself a well-known winemaker from the region, but unfortunately she could not be saved. We send our deepest sympathies to her family.

The dreaded chore of cleaning is well under way, and there are areas of the bodega that are already returning to their more usual appearance – clean and well ordered. The space that bears the initial brunt of the annual harvest onslaught, our grape reception, is already clean, albeit that the 2,000 odd plastic cases we use for gathering our fruit are still piled high at the back of the building, awaiting their turn to be blasted with our jet washers. These cases and our grape reception actually have one thing in common – they are both only used for about one week out of every year, the rest of the time they simply gather dust!

Meanwhile, inside the winery, more tanks have now been seeded at the start of their alcoholic fermentation. As we all know, this is the process that converts the grape juice into wine, but one of the things that we cannot afford to forget is that winemaking not only creates alcohol, but also produces significant amounts of carbon dioxide. For this reason, our bodega is fitted with a powerful extraction system that blows air through the cellar at a rate of knots – once switched on the constant background hum of their motors serves as a subliminal reminder that fermentation is in progress. They are not switched off until the last tank has finished its transformation. Of course carbon dioxide at these levels, is a killer, and very occasionally, even putting your face too close to the top of a fermenting tank will take your breath away, and leave you gasping for air. Perhaps in a slightly more sinister fashion, concentrations of as little as 7% to 10% (which are largely odourless) can cause eventual suffocation. Symptoms begin with slight dizziness and headache, leading to visual and hearing dysfunction, and finally unconsciousness. This can all happen in less than an hour, which is why we have to remain very vigilant throughout.

TRAGIC FOOTNOTE: This is really quite odd, and extremely distressing. Only a few hours after posting this story I have learned of the tragic death of a young winemaker, caused by carbon dioxide suffocation. In the D.O. of Bierzo (which borders on Galicia), 25 year old Nerea Pérez died when she was overcome by this odourless gas and fell into the vat. She was discovered by her uncle, himself a well-known winemaker from the region, but unfortunately she could not be saved. We send our deepest sympathies to her family.