The day started well and got better, I have to report!
It was an early start, with Canela, the little ginger (actually, cinnamon-coloured, hence ‘Canela’, which is Portuguese for cinnamon) female cat lying on me and then knocking my alarm clock off the bedside table. She has also mastered the knack of turning on the touch-sensitive bedside light with her nose! She is so cute, however, and purrs so loudly, that we all, even Eric, the dog, put up with her idiosyncratic way to start our day. I needed to be up early anyway, as I had a busy time ahead.
By 7.30, just as the first cup of tea had been imbibed, a friend and I were attacking the remarkable grape harvest. I’m not sure of the reasons, but the harvest this year is quite unlike previous years – magnificent, luscious and abundant. Some time ago I had purchased, in a mad moment, some equipment for making wine. I had never used it. That has now changed! The big plastic bucket, which holds 300 litres and the barrel, which holds 100 litres, were bleached, scrubbed and well sluiced down with loads of water. The wooden hopper and metal rollers, rather like an old-fashioned washing mangle, were similarly cleansed and then the work truly began.
We each selected which set of vines we were going to attack and then set to, secateurs firmly grasped and legs well protected against the vicious silvas or brambles, which seem to grow so well with vines. Even so, my legs were scratched and bleeding after just a few minutes. I understood why the villagers keep their vines so tidy and clean. It’s just easier. A big learning curve was being climbed, and rather rapidly!
Every half an hour, one of us would load up the wooden hopper with a bucket full of grapes and turn the wheel which rolled the rollers which crushed the grapes and released the juice. This went on for about three hours, until all the grapes were gathered in and the big plastic bucket was about three-quarters full. Then it was covered with an old sheet to keep out what were referred to as ‘vinegar’ flies. These seem to be some sort of fruit fly which clearly convert alcohol to vinegar – not required at all, thank you very much! The sailing memory of ‘she who must be obeyed’ was tested as a bowline was needed to secure the rope around the bucket and keep the sheet in place.
I have since been assiduously stirring the mixture with a small beach spade, left behind by a nephew – perfect for the job! This evening’s task is to drain the juice and put in in the smaller barrel, just 100 litres and leave it all for three months, to bubble away quietly, with a little tube of water in a sort of u-shaped trap to keep air out. Then, if all goes according to plan, when the bubbling stops, my first wine will be produced and hopefully enjoyed. All organic and natural.
Microbes on the grapes, together with sugar and a bit of time. That’s all. Marvellous!
Mike Gaunt is a former headmaster at St Christopher’s School, Bahrain
mikegaunt@gmail.com