Winemaking 101

Sara, Jean-Marc and Daniel shifting the load in the grinder.

We're into the 3rd day and my body has finally realized that it will not get a break from the constant onslaught of bending and stooping. It tried to intimidate me with its aches and pains, stiffness and swelling but it received no mercy. There were to be no excuses to sit on the sidelines and let others do the work. As a matter of fact, the extra work seem to have helped and I've now turned the corner on my pain.

The knee is still causing difficulties, refusing to bend when it should so I do everything I can to remain in an upright position. We were working a different field today with different grapes, whose vines were trained upon wires stretching from one end of the field to the other. There is less crouching and most of the work is easily done standing. These are my favorite vines.

The Mistral died down for a day but the heat took its place. The heat in southern France is not of the same caliber that you would find in Arizona or Oklahoma. The brightess is intense but the temperatures are not. Wearing my sun visor hat and my long sleeves to avoid a burn, I could easily work all afternoon and not break an obvious sweat.

Sucking the crushed grapes up into the holding tank.

Our day starts at 0800 and ends somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00 PM, but the work doesn't stop when the buckets are emptied. Back at the farm, the most important work begins in the cave.



The cave contains all the concrete tanks that hold the grapes when they are brought in from the fields. The tanks are probably 15 feet high and each hold several days worth of crushed grapes.


The grapes are collected in a large, deep trailer which is pulled through the fields behind the tractor. An enormous screw running across the bottom of the trailer grinds the grapes to release the juice, much like the grape stomper did in years past. A large flexible hose, resembling that which is attached between a lav truck and an aircraft, is attached to the grinder and shoots the maserated grapes throught the tube and up into the holding tank chosen for that particular wine.

I hold the tube steady as Caroline aims the end into the tank.

Two people stand on top of the holding tanks and direct the stream of grapes into it. A small amount of sulfur solution is added to the mix to guard against oxidation when the bottle is opened. The grapes then sit the prescribed amount of time, depending on the wine being made. The final product will be drained from the bottom of the tank through a spigot.

The grapes are ground by the screw then are sucked into the hose.

The grinder is then hosed down, along with the concrete floor and grape crates which will be used the next day. This ritual is actually done twice a day, at noon, after the morning harvest and in the evening after the afternoon harvest. Jean-Marc can take an immediate sample of the wine at this point, to determine the sugar content of the grapes and get an idea of the future wine's final flavor.

The only thing left to do is grab a couple of bottles of wine from an earlier harvest and head back to our apartments, where we will enjoy the fruits of our labor before starting the process over again the next day.