September has rolled around once again, and with the cooler weather comes wine making season!
This was my first year of making wine. Last year a few obstacles stood in the way but, this year I was not going to let the season pass me by. So, when the temperature began to drop and the sun began to set earlier I knew it was only a matter of time before we would be out in the garden picking grapes.
Wine is a big part of the culture here in Moldova. Moldovans are very proud of their wine, and every household makes their own house wine (vin de casa). And, every household believes their wine is the best, this is shown time and time again when visiting new people. The house wine always flows generously. Furthermore, When driving through the countryside of Moldova one easily sees hundreds of family grapevine plots dotted over hills an valleys. It's quite beautiful, the rows of vines bobbing and twisting around mid-height stakes in the ground.
When the time comes to conserve fruits and vegetables here in Moldova, host mom and I go out into the garden and pick said fruit/vegetable completely from its source. We leave no piece behind. Host mom, like most Moldovans conserve in large batches. One day of conserving kilo upon kilo of pickled tomatoes and it is done and taken care of for the winter. There is no difference when making wine. We went out into the garden with buckets and proceeded to pull every last bundle of grapes from the vine.
After the grapes had been collected we brought them over to a large wooden open-top barrel where we began to process all the grapes through a hand-crank grinder squeezing the grapes and depositing them in the barrel. We cranked through over 200kg (2.2lbs per 1kg) of grapes that day. Hello, arm workout. When the grapes are all squeezed then its just a waiting game.
The grapes naturally ferment overtime and by the third day it was time to siphon the wine out and put it into the holding container. This part of the process I was interested in viewing as the barrel was up in the front yard and the holding container for the wine was down in the cellar. But, my confusion was quickly erased when I saw the long hose borrowed from a neighbor dipping into the barrel with the grapes and extend down into the basement ending in the other container. For the rest of the afternoon a parade of helpful neighbors came and went, monitoring the progress of the wine. A couple of days later the remaining grape pits and grape skins were manually put into another small press and squeezed of their excess liquids. Ending the wine making process with an empty wooden barrel and a large holding container of wine in the cellar.
My favorite moment in the process was when one neighbor complained of being tired and the other neighbor chirped in "Yes, fall is tough but when winter comes what will we do? We will sit with our feet on the heater and a glass of wine in our hands." I will cheers to that!
Here's to the coming winter, with our feet on the heater and a glass of wine in our hands!
Peace
This was my first year of making wine. Last year a few obstacles stood in the way but, this year I was not going to let the season pass me by. So, when the temperature began to drop and the sun began to set earlier I knew it was only a matter of time before we would be out in the garden picking grapes.
Wine is a big part of the culture here in Moldova. Moldovans are very proud of their wine, and every household makes their own house wine (vin de casa). And, every household believes their wine is the best, this is shown time and time again when visiting new people. The house wine always flows generously. Furthermore, When driving through the countryside of Moldova one easily sees hundreds of family grapevine plots dotted over hills an valleys. It's quite beautiful, the rows of vines bobbing and twisting around mid-height stakes in the ground.
When the time comes to conserve fruits and vegetables here in Moldova, host mom and I go out into the garden and pick said fruit/vegetable completely from its source. We leave no piece behind. Host mom, like most Moldovans conserve in large batches. One day of conserving kilo upon kilo of pickled tomatoes and it is done and taken care of for the winter. There is no difference when making wine. We went out into the garden with buckets and proceeded to pull every last bundle of grapes from the vine.
After the grapes had been collected we brought them over to a large wooden open-top barrel where we began to process all the grapes through a hand-crank grinder squeezing the grapes and depositing them in the barrel. We cranked through over 200kg (2.2lbs per 1kg) of grapes that day. Hello, arm workout. When the grapes are all squeezed then its just a waiting game.
The grapes naturally ferment overtime and by the third day it was time to siphon the wine out and put it into the holding container. This part of the process I was interested in viewing as the barrel was up in the front yard and the holding container for the wine was down in the cellar. But, my confusion was quickly erased when I saw the long hose borrowed from a neighbor dipping into the barrel with the grapes and extend down into the basement ending in the other container. For the rest of the afternoon a parade of helpful neighbors came and went, monitoring the progress of the wine. A couple of days later the remaining grape pits and grape skins were manually put into another small press and squeezed of their excess liquids. Ending the wine making process with an empty wooden barrel and a large holding container of wine in the cellar.
My favorite moment in the process was when one neighbor complained of being tired and the other neighbor chirped in "Yes, fall is tough but when winter comes what will we do? We will sit with our feet on the heater and a glass of wine in our hands." I will cheers to that!
Here's to the coming winter, with our feet on the heater and a glass of wine in our hands!
Peace
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