Taking More Samples

I collected another sample of Tempranillo yesterday, though this time I did a quick-n-dirty job, ie around 30 berries only more or less at random from all over the vineyard. All done in 15 mins.

Sample of Tempranillo Berries

I just realized that at this stage it's not really necessary to be methodical and to collect a truely representative sample. It doesn't matter of we get a reading of 9% probable alcohol or 10%, as the grapes are obviously not ripe. In a week or two, though, it'll be very important to know of it's 13% or 13.5% for example! Duh!

It was 37ºC at 5 o'clock yesterday.

Wandering around the vineyard I came across this vine: see the incredibly long shoot/cane (what's it called in English anyway? it's a "sarmiento" in Spanish.)

"Oooo my! I've never seen one that long before"

(said the actress to the grape-grower)

Next, when having a rest, some water and roll-up in the car, I was attacked by a cloud of flies!! First I blew smoke at them, but no use. Then I tried rubbing oregano and thyme onto my arms and legs,

Oregano and thyme

but that didn't work either. Finally I managed to get rid of them by trying to take photos of them with my mobile. They must have an instinctive fear of social media! I could only get this one, all the rest disappeared!!!

A fly on my knee

And then, while driving to see a neighbour (fellow producer of organic grapes and wine), to talk about possibly buying grapes from him, (we have excess capacity in the winery and expect a small harvest of our own grapes this year), I took this photo from the window of the car. (I pulled over first!)

An ex-vineyard

That pile in the middle of the field are vines, that have been uprooted. There's been a lot of uprooting of vineyards going on in Spain over the last few years. The EU pays a few thousand Euros/hectare to vineyard owners if they uproot them.