Fieldtrip...Literally!

I went on a fieldtrip today! Since I’ve spent my time so far working in the winery and haven’t had the chance to see what it’s like to work in the vineyard, I was excited to venture out to the beautiful rolling hills and get my hands dirty. Early in the morning, we went to one of the vineyards where Merlot grapes were ready to be harvested. These were not grapes of the highest quality so it was being done by machine instead of by hand. The tall yellow monster drives over each row of vines, vibrating them and shaking the grapes off of the stems, collecting them as it goes along. I even got to take a ride…Disneyland for farmers!

In the afternoon Yoni and I saw the more romantic and classic method of harvesting grapes…by hand. This is done in the majority of the vineyards (90%), and requires many men who all work their butts off! There were about 40 men working in this vineyard and I don’t think they knew quite what to make of us blondies (the vineyard manager joked that he needs to bring us out there more often to motivate the guys). They begin picking at the start of each row, working their way up the row cutting the bunches of grapes and placing them in the bucket next to them. After about 20 minutes, the buckets are almost full so they all pass them over their heads and the vines to the person in the next row, who passes it over to the next person in the next row, and so on until it reaches the middle and can be dumped into the tractor. They have to do this at least 10 times before reaching the end of one row. Although we helped out for a little bit, it was not enough to really get my hands dirty like I expected.

Tonight I stayed at the winery in one of the guesthouses with Yoni. There are a few guesthouses on the estate and they are all very nice. I am glad to actually leave work when I am done rather than staying here, but this is a nice change from my plain, old apartment. We made a really yummy homemade pizza and had a wonderful dinner outside. There is supposed to be a storm rolling in so it was a little windy. Just enough to freshen the air and leave it smelling like the flowers that surround the estate.