After the harvest, we headed back to Marta's house, where her Uncle started the wine making process. We drank some Vin Santo, and ate some biscotti made with the grape must from one of the neighbors harvests. We were able to stick around long enough to see the first step of crushing the grapes. No there were now bare feet and buckets of grapes involved. Although this is artisinal wine, it is still the 21st century so a machine was used to extract the juice.
Marta and I returned to work in the evening, and then I returned to the house early in the morning to meet with Marta's uncle, and see the rest of the process.
In the morning they drained the container with the crushed grapes, syphoned the juice into a stainless steel container and then placed the must into a large press to further extract any remaining juice. The must is then broken apart and pressed one more time for good measure.
The juice is fermented in a large steel container for about a month and then it is transfered into large jugs to age before being transfered into bottles. This years harvest yeilded about 140 liters of juice.
It was really cool hanging out and watching the yearly tradition unfold. I also was able to taste some fresh juice before going off to work.Really good, super sweet.
Definitely a great experience, and it really makes me want to make my own wine. Some day I hope. Ciao.
