Vintage Helpers

During harvest four hands are always better than two.
The co driver is now an expert picker and all round cellar hand.
No longer does she complain about being covered in spiders and bugs as she makes her way down the rows snipping off bunches and quickly filling buckets.
And she is a deft bucket handler and stalk remover at the crusher/destemmer too.

The clean up process after crushing is very important. Getting rid of the residue of stalks and spilled grapes stops the usual invasion of annoying vinegar flies and helps prevent the development of wild yeasts within the winery area.
Cleaning the equipment to be ready for the next crush is similarly important.
I usually do this in the backyard. There is always a pile of grapes washed out of the crusher.
My cleaning staff of bower birds and currawongs is always waiting in the surrounding trees and at the ready to make short work of those. After all, the netting has been preventing them getting to the ripening grapes for weeks.
But this morning we had a new member of staff at work. Life in the country is great.