So, here we are, on the starting block of the 2011 harvest and winemaking season. The culture work is done and it’s time to reap the fruits of our labour. But we have the last minute preparations to do.
One of the advantages of our stainless steel Albrigi wine vats is screamed out by the day-glo pink « High clean » banner clinging like a limpet to their sides. And after a day’s work, they are sparkling clean and shiny as new. Along with all the steel connectors, drapeaux, plastic tubes, buckets and measures, the reception equipment and the press.
It is probably the only bit of « housework » that we always do together, but cave hygiene is a priority that was set from the beginning, and it is fair to say that it is a bit of a mania. Our mothers can be proud of us, I just hope that they are not holding their breath for the complete conversion.
The worn out harvest buckets and secateurs have been replaced. The comports are washed and loaded on the trailer; the benne has been washed. Pierre has practised reversing tractor and benne up the ramp to the reception bin, with its never ending screw that will propel the bunches of grapes along the pipe and into the press. The sump pump is in place to take the effluent to its storage container.
And just in case you get the idea that it’s a one off splurge, we clean everything that’s been used for every day of the harvest and we do the same for each operation in the cave, right up until the wines are safely in their bottles. A little virtue goes a long way…