2nd harvest

14 settembre
Today i finished the 2nd harvest of grapes which matured a bit later and were blessed by a rain last week after we picked the 1st time. 11 hours of individually selecting grape by grape yielded about 200 liters of juice for "the reserve" wine... Just joking!!! I don't like to waste anything as many of you know and I really did cut some individual grapes off of bunches which were flawed.. I learned you can't be too much of a perfectionist in this job!
I did a fair amount of shopping over the last 3 days and maxed out my "bancomat", but as you see in the photo we now have a plastic vat which will fit in our outbuilding as well as a stainless steel tank and a barrique of french oak (used for montelpuciano previously and shaved inside to rejuvenate the wood).
We have guests from England who dined with us last night and enjoyed the meal enough to want to try our cooking again tonight. Not much else to report at present, just getting psyched up for "Cheese" at Bra.. check out the slow food link for more info. On the way, I may stop by Siena to view the flat coated retriever puppies. Filu our mascot has been called home by her grandparents who miss her and want visitation rights! I will miss her a bit.
The pictures show my footprints leaving the "stomping room", our new equipment and the grapes we hung which are drying well and tonight's sunset.
Buon weekend a tutti!!! Dwight