If you had a chance to read yesterday’s post, I finished writing just when we were to process the last 1/2 of grapes for the day. Boy, did that 1/2 ton turn out to be the hardest part of the day!
We had been processing Chardonel grapes which were juicy enough to pump from the destemmer into the press without too many hassles. The last crushing we needed to finish was a 1/2 ton of Vignoles grapes. Unfortunately, due to the drought, the Vignoles were nowhere near as easy.
Right away the hose clogged and we couldn’t get enough liquid into the pump to easily move all those grapes. So Clyde decided to forgo the destemmer and directly dump the grapes into the press, stems and all.
Now, the door to the press is just over 6 feet high and we were all pretty tired at that point. Bucketing a 1/2 ton of grapes over our heads was not a welcome thought. So ingenious Clyde to the rescue again by positioning the bin directly over the doorway to the press, making it easier for him to guide the grapes into the press.
Here he is in action:
Happily, all the grapes were in the press by the time I left at 6pm yesterday and Clyde was done pressing by 8pm. This 1/2 ton of vignoles pressed out to about 80 gallons of juice – a nice yield considering the efforts. Funny, I didn’t notice Clyde reaching for a glass of wine last night…..just a pillow!
One Comment
Oh that sounds fun… or not. At least you got a decent amount of juice out of it.