After a long, hot summer, concluding with about one week of rain, we finally started to pick on Friday 5th September. The blue skies that we enjoyed might, however, be short lived, as a forecast of rain has suddenly appeared on the horizon. Normally we would try to ease ourselves into the routine, but now it has become more a mad scramble to pick as much fruit as possible, from all sources. By mid-afternoon vans, tractors and trailers were queuing at our doors.

Despite the rush, all the different vehicles appeared to arrive as if by prior arrangement – one after another, but quite evenly spaced, leaving just enough time to discharge their precious cargo, and then move on to the next. This steady stream also provided us with a perfect flow of fruit for our presses – no sooner was one press emptied, than we had just enough fruit to re-fill it. Purely by chance it was like a well synchronised ‘ballet’. This pattern continued throughout the afternoon and evening until it was finally time to leave, exhausted but strangely satisfied by a busy but successful first day.

Our tasting of the first must revealed the usual, floral perfumed fruit character, with quite a good concentration. Our only slight concern would be that the acidity might be slightly lower than we would normally expect (obviously due to the heat), but of course we will need to make a full analysis of the must before we draw too many conclusions.

With the forecast of another dry for tomorrow, our race to gather fruit will continue.