Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The night before the work begins in earnest

Vendemmia in the morning, and we will begin at 6 am. Thank god my jetlag is gone and I feel almost human, minus the lingering cold: hopefully the thrice daily doses of wild oregano oil (thanks to Kalyna) will pay off and I will feel 100 percent in the morning. Here the mood is good, but a little anxious. I can only describe the feeling as a cross between Christmas Eve and the night before a Final exam. The vendemmia has to be the most stressful time for the winemaker all year. PJ said "I can rest when all the grapes are in barrel and fermentation is going.  Or finished..." Until then there are constant worries. Will the weather hold? Will the harvest produce enough wine? Will it produce too much? Will he have more than he can handle? (We went out yesterday and picked up another 10hL vat in case we have too much wine. Unfortunately it has a broken part and it is up in the air if we will be able to use it or not.) Will the vines be harvested fast enough? Will all the untested new equipment work as it should? A full years worth of work, sweat, and blood for one day. All of this for PJ involves so many factors that are out of his control. All one can do is cross the fingers and hope...
More tomorrow night, hopefully with tons of new pictures and great news of a smooth harvest and a wonderful new baby 2009 Brunello fermenting away happily.
A dopo

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