The vendange is underway!!!

Early stages

I had a coffee morning here last Monday for some neighbours - Jacqueline, Micheline, Emilie and little Antonin, who was born in the summer and is growing fast, and our immediate neighbour Isabel. Good fun. We were discussing when the vendange was going to start and it seemed pretty much everyone was beginning today, Weds 10 October. Others will start this weekend. It will be a two/three week period of intense activity. In an earlier blog I mentioned that the weather had been so bizaare that the vendange had been knocked back by nearly a month. So for it to finally get going was quite a relief.

We had another overcast day today. Fine for working on the vines I'm guessing. It's pandemonium on the roads though once forty wine producers get going. This means vans, tractors and trailers, enormous harvesters, pickers in various vehicles. There's a lot of traffic about. Add to that some local roadworks and . . . it's been an interesting time moving about. 

Mike and I had a ride on a harvester about four years ago. A wine producing family organised it for us. The vehicles in height are the nearing the size of a two-storey house. At the top is a little cabin for the driver. The frame that supports the cabin and does the work of harvesting is a huge lower case n shape. The harvester is positioned at one end of a row of vines and basically encases it, so that the vine is positioned in hollow of the frame. Then as the harvester moves along the row, it vibrates and shakes the grapes off the vine, which are caught by a container fixed to the machine. The harvester is an enormous piece of kit  and amazingly efficient, with steering control that can turn on a pin-head. It's quite something to ride on one and to see them in action. 

This evening we unfortunately had a massive rain burst. The last thing needed right now. Some roads were flooded. Muddy fields I imagine are not good for the machines. They might be big, beautiful and super-efficient, but they're also very heavy. Tomorrow (Thursday) will be interesting.  It so happens that we're going slightly further out in our region in the afternoon with a conversation group for a wine tasting. We're meant to be walking in the vines, but I'm not sure this will happen with the harvest going on. We'll see. Then we're having a wine tasting. I'm hoping I can get some photos. We're going into the market as per usual early tomorrow morning, so if the weather and light are good I'll try and get some photos on the way in and more in the afternoon to load on to the blog.

We were in Chinon this evening for the AGM of one of our Anglo/French groups. As we drove along, we saw a lot of the pickers just finishing. They were staying in caravans, under canvas etc, all positioned next to the vines they're working on.

Anyway we'll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully a good day for the vignerons and the harvest and a good day for me to get some shots in.