Today we started at 8am. We went to a place a few villages over to Patrick's vineyard to help him with the harvest. On the way there we brought Mélina to the Nounou and then took the "roller coaster" path - a narrow, bumpy road where you really hope that there won't be oncoming traffic - to the vineyard. There we harvested everything within two and a half hours. In a vine I harvested, a lizard was sitting on a large leaf. It hadn't been deterred by harvesting, but unfortunately it was shy infront of the camera.
When we were finished we loaded the trailer and drove the grapes to the press. We parked in the middle of the street to unload and quickly half the village was there to watch. (I exaggerate, of course, cars could still pass and only about 10 people gathered around us, but it sounds more exciting!) The men dumped the grapes into the press and I stacked the empty boxes.
The Press that Patrick uses is over two hundret years old. The grapes were mashed with mallets before the next layer was applied.
In between putting in more grapes, we had some freshly pressed grape juice. In the span of one hour from the vine into your glass. It doesn't get fresher than that.
When all the grapes were in the press, it was put together.
And with that, our work was done. I went back home with Luc; Michaels stayed behind at Patrick's, where there was a big lunch. I preferred having some time to myself, so I could start relaxed into the weekend.
At home, Luc lent a wine tank to Patrick, which we loaded into the car together, before I was done for the day and the men returned to their respective tasks.
I did my laundry, read and edited pictures. In the late afternoon the weather got bad for the first time since I've arrived here. There had been strong winds all day and it had gotten overcast. In the evening, it even rained a bit. I'm quite glad about that, actually, because that means that tomorrow, it won't be as hot as the last couple of days. That'll make the vintage more enjoyable.
In the meantime, Mélina has started to trust me. She calles me "Ta". Yesterday evening, she gave me all of her pacifiers and some of her stuffed animals. Today, everytime she saw me, she excitedly called my name. Mission: Best Friends is coming along well!
For dinner we had crêpes from a table top-crêpes-maker, and a lot of cheese. For dessert we had some with chocolate and jam. It doesn't happen too often that a meal starts with cheese but doesn't end with it.
Tomorrow, we'll be around 20 people, who will harvest in Argis. Even though it will be exhausting, I'm looking forward to it, because I really like harvesting.