Patio winemaking

10 settembre
Today, we are again empty, but maybe will have 3 english guests tonight. We decided to start our little experimental winemaking project with the montelpuciano grapes. We harvested what we thought were the best grapes and enough we hope to fill one oak barrel when all is finished and then transported the grapes to our elegant patio wine making tub where we did the old grape stomping thing. You should be sure to have a gutter to hang onto and clean feet sort of.. I got 1st honors and about the time I hit the bottom of the barrel so to speak, Raffaele took over to finish the job... We then added just a touch of sulfur to inhibit bacteria and wild yeast and added a little yeast designed for grape fermentation. After we covered the vat with the plastic bags with which the laundry delivers our linens. Now we will have a fermentation on the skins for some days before transferring to a stainless steel tank, which we will have to buy and then into an oak barrel. Can't wait to see what we can make. At the end of all of that I am a bit pooped.
Thanks to Pete and Lori who bought our week at the agriturismo at the KC Hospice benefit. I look forward to seeing them in the future for a week of relaxation and a nice dinner here.
Ciao for now... i will keep the fermentation communication lines open. dwight