Winemaking - it's a tough and messy gig!

in wine •  7 years ago 

Harvest time at a winery is go time. Everyone is working around the clock, 24 hours a day. And when you're running on very little sleep and in desperate need of a shower, your adrenaline just kicks in and you end up having the best time of your life! However, I can't stress enough that it's A LOT OF WORK! Blood, sweat, and tears come into play for sure and if you are not a fan of manual labour, this may not be for you.

Oh, and did I mention that it's messy?

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I would wake up some mornings with dried grapes still in my hair, and that was even AFTER a shower. To balance things out though, there are days when you get to stay a bit cleaner and relax a little - barrel samples, lab tests, filtering, bottling. All way cleaner.

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You spend months doing everything needed to get from grape to glass. By the end of the season you are so completely exhausted that you've earned yourself the biggest glass of wine that you've ever poured for yourself! You're also so physically fit that I almost found myself looking for the nearest street fight :P

All in all, the point of this post was to show people that even though 'winemaker' is a fancy sounding job, it is not always as glamorous as it sounds. They work extremely long days and are under a lot of pressure constantly, but in the end they are the ones that bring us wine lovers the wine! And we love them for that <3

Thanks for reading!

Now, back to work...

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good post

Reminds me of the I Love Lucy episode!

This is so cute!!!

When I was a kid, we used to go help my grandpa's friend to pick the grapes. And it was a whole weekend running up and down a hill, picking grapes and having fun. Of course, I was a kid and didn't actually help much but being a part of that event was amazing. Thanks for reminding me of that.

I love that! Thanks for your support :)

you must have a passion when you make wine and it is not easy :)

ok, as long as you keep the blood, sweat and tears out of the wine!

wow, that's really hard work but it's worth it hopefully ;)

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

The first picture had me like (°ㅂ°╬) but then when I saw the second picture, then I was like oh it's just grapes.
( ̄∇ ̄) haha good stuff @travelingsomm.

The first picture had me like (°ㅂ°╬) but then when I saw the second picture, then I was like oh it's just grapes.

Such a good intro picture!!!

Wow!! Excellent. Good job. At first I thought It is blood. hahaha....I am wrong. Interesting post. I like it.

@travelingsomm
That is so awesome, something i think most people would like to do at least once, stomp some grapes. :-)

stay blessed

Wow! Interesting.

Nice post👍

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Congratulations, good post I love,
At first I thought it was blood hahahaha

I thought exactly the same!

Great post. I studied a course ‘wine production’ in my second year. Still remains one of my favorite of all time. Haven’t found an opportunity to put that knowledge to practical use yet though.

Oh, but for a good wine, it's worth it, no? And is the process similar for both large batches and smaller?

Definitely worth it! And yes, the process is the same. The steps are just tweaked a bit to accommodate a smaller or larger batch.

that's awesome !

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Do you know the Slovene red wine TERAN. Really recommend to try it. It is only available in small geographic area Slovene Kras. Our family is buying from an unknown winegrower who does the wine just for home use and to sell some of it to his friends. It’s the best red wine I ever tried. But It‘s always like this, big production is more commercial, the best quality wine is produced by small family winegrowers, that even don’t produce the wine for the business but just for own use.

You are doing so good job. Working hard thats the point i think will bring a better day in your life..

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This is serious

first picture makes it look like you were a part of a murder

pleas upvote me

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I love your account, it's so original. @travelingsomm please tell me what your think about WHITE wine !

It might be kind of messy, but it actually sounds like a lot of fun. And the end result is pretty nice :)

very interesting. Do not drink to much !

I love wine, and i love the passionof who made this

Hi travelingsomm,
where are these pictures taken? I love togo on such a workig holiday. My husband and i love wine ( @cvds look at hisblog for our homewinery )Every year we go to italy and drive back hoe wth loca brewed wines.
i wish you a nice evening WITH a nice glass off wine,
greets from the netherlands

Wow! I love the effort you put in!

Thanks! I would love your support as a fellow drink enthusiast!

Your photos are actually pretty good! A lot of them on here are not as good. I love that you told a story here as well.

Question though - why don't wine makers wear something to cover the skin so that they don't get covered in juice?

Following you :)

Less laundry ;)

You're also doing a lot of heavy lifting so it gets hot. Thanks for your support <3

I'd love to see a winemaker street fight. Haha, just kidding.

Haha awesome! I had no idea it would be THIS messy! Keep the posts coming. I'm interested in wine making and I don't really know enough about it. I've attended so many wine tastings in the past - maybe around 40, as a part of my old job. Ironically, since leaving that job i've become more interested in wine.

It's so cool to make the grape wine! : )

Nice!! Greetings from Venezuela

Nice active lead and evocative photos - way to draw us into the piece!

enjoy the only, enjoy the process, you will be happy with your work, the spirit of ... !!!

For a moment, I got my pad and pen thinking you wanted to explain a little on the processes inclusive in wine making. Will expect that soon though or if you already have one, pls afford me the post.

Manual Labour can be very exhaustive most times especially knowing there are some processes that technology can not completely take over. Well done and I believe you get stronger by the day.

Getting messy is half the fun :)

haha great insight on your craft!

that is a lot of work, It must be really stressful @travelingsomm!

Fascinating! I would love to try it. Does it hurt?

You know despite the hard messy wor, looks like something you really enjoyed. That wine was literally the fruit of your labour!

Your post took me back to my childhood when I was helping my family making wine. It was so much fun to jump inside and dance barefoot in order to crush the grapes... Getting messy was the best part of it! Such a great feeling to drink a wine that you actually made, or at least helped making it.
It's great you can have fun doing what you like. It sort of pays off for the long hours you put in.

I like your post,
very hard but interesting work,
very good wine hahaha i love it !!!

I would like to go one day to help

For a moment there, I thought that was blood!

Do you really stomp the grapes with your feet? Great post and great pictures.

wow, and yet the average bottle of wine purchased is LESS than 10 DOLLARS! Amazing what goes into crafting the best things we have in life

Wow, I had to do a double take. It looked like blood, lol! But thank goodness it's not!

Looks interesting ! Hope I will get change to taste the wine you make !

What winery was this at?

I don't mind messy. this looks like fun :) I always wanted to experience something like that. I love wine!