Pinot Gris

Today was the start of Pinot Gris harvesting. The bunhes were plump and well-formed, and those vines that had been well plucked were a pleasure to pick. Those, however, whose folliage had been allowed to run wild, were a pain in the arse. The Gris berries are a bit bigger than the Pinot Noir, and greyish tan rather than blackish blue.

While picking, I was lucky enough to experience my first bee stings of the season! It was the hottest day yet, and the bees were out in force, swarming round the bunches during the middle part of the day. Both stings were on my left hand---the one I use to hold the bunches while snipping their stems---and the amount of pain such a diminutive creature can cause is astounding! Luckily, the effect was not as long-lasting childhood memory records, and though I still have a slight swelling (only one, mind: the sting on the side of my finger has not come up), the pain vanished after a few minutes.

While the Pinot Noir was put into the tank as whole berries, leaving the skins and seeds in contact with the juice during fermentation, the procedure for white wine is a bit different: the juice is pressed from the grapes, and the skins, seeds, and stems discarded.

The press is a big cylinder, mounted horizontally on a stand, with a sliding door for putting in the grapes. The cylinder is perforated with narrow slits half the way around, an inflatable bladder clinging to the inside of the other half. By inflating the bladder, the juice is pressed out of the grapes.