On the 6th of September we picked the cinsault . We were up at 7 with our dear friends Ben and Becca -the cool dawn, quiet,the first 50 kilos of fruit ,just us and the vines. Thanks to our amazing Patronne a gang of volunteers showed up to help pick . The kids enjoyed buzzing to and from the vines in the van with sides open and giving out the thickly buttered ( there is no other way ) ham and cheese baguette.
The Patronne whipped the pickers into a frenzy urging them on to fill the cajettes quicker and then complained bitterly when they had run out ! Poor Ben could not collect and run them back to the cave where we were tipping them into the tank quick enough . It was a matter of pride..of course we could not keep up with the French !
By 1 pm we had a 1200 kilos in the tank. We followed our recipe of whole bunches gently crushed covered with C02 for our vin de soif had a good clear up in the cave then made a shocking mess in the kitchen feeding the 14 or so pickers with a lunch worth working for . Becca extracted as many barista grade coffees as the machine could handle .