First Day of Harvest

It started again today... Sore back muscles, the blackening and cracking/drying of my fingers and palms, long full throttle days, cherry-cough syrup flavored grapes, earwigs, the unmistakable smell and short olofactory burn of Citric Sulfur, beautiful purple-blue berries with intense aromas, cleaning and being wet, the instantaneous change of plans, great conversations over interesting meal choices, and oh soo soo much fun!

I know I said I'd be underground for a while but I felt compelled to write this tonight. I'm still gonna post about the vineyard but I'm back on somewhat dated technology for internet use so it'll hav'ta wait.

So I was to arrive at GVW today at 9am for preliminary ish and to get ready for the upcoming fruit arrival tomorrow. I don't even think it was 9am when I got there and plans had already changed. "We're getting fruit today." Yeah? Alright. Or something to that effect. It's too long ago to remember correctly. I do remember some part of the conversation with Sascha, the assistant winemaker about how they like to throw us into situations and go for it, something about the best way to learn or something like that. In hindsight, I really didn't need more time to get situated than they gave me. Everything fell right back into place even though I haven't done any of it since November. Granted, I didn't expect to be driving a fork lift today but Sascha took it easy on me and gave me pretty straightforward tasks to complete.

It was looking like it would be a really great day. The temperature was around 16-18C. Sunglasses were necessary. Layers were coming off. Tanks were ready. Destemmer was ready. Must pump was ready if necessary. Oh, I forgot to mention that it poured here last night. Not for more than 15mins at a time, but it would dump when it did. But that's ok. If it's raining here in Cromwell, it doesn't mean it's raining in Gibbston which was fine for me since I was going to Gibbston. Well it was just a taste, because it started at about 1030am. A few fat rain drops here and there but nothing to put layers back on for. And then it just didn't leave. Did I also forgot to mention that about 85-90% of GVW's winery is outside with no cover whatsoever? I think I did. The crushpad (where the fruit is processed–it comes off trucks, gets weighed and then stacked for destemming. The destemmer does just that, it removes the berries from the stems into one bin while the stems get sent to another "waste" bin) is also outside. The fermenters have full–on covers to protect the contents for outside elements. So we all put on raincoats and finished the first delivery of fruit before lunch. I think it was 8tonnes. And then the rest for the day came in, in the pissing-down rain. Christopher and Sascha looked after us really well, however, pulling out extra layers of dry clothes and wet weather gear. You're gonna get wet in winery. The question is how wet. I cannot stress how important a proper pair of gum/Wellington/Muck/Bogs/shitkicker boots and a pair of quick drying pants are for winery work. For me anyway. Life in a winery is so much more bearable if your socks/feet are dry and your pants dry quickly.

The mass of the storms had moved toward Cromwell and Bendigo where the vineyard is and the pickers were so they were stopping for the day. But it was still raining at GVW and we were still plugging away. I think it was 20tonnes by the end of the night. Couldn't tell you for sure. I worked about 10h today and was pretty tired when I left, but it was still a really fantastic first day. Even with the rain. There's rain for most of this week and even snow in some areas tomorrow. But who cares? It's all part of the experience and I'm really looking forward to it all. And with that, goodnight.

Peace fam. Stay frosty