Spanish Secrets: Wine Making - Part Two
Craig Briggs and his wife Mel have gathered in their grapes, the red variety and the green. They have purchased the special barrels. Now, it's on with the Wellies - and let the wine-making commence!
Market day arrived so, as arranged, we drove to collect our neighbour Mellie who had agreed to help us buy the required barrel for our wine making.
Whilst driving to the market we thought it appropriate, after our first abortive attempt to buy a barrel, to decide what type and size we needed. Mellie thought the most appropriate purchase would be two barrels, one in stainless steel and the other in the cheaper plastic, and that the 200 litre size would be sufficient.
It was our first visit to this particular market and we were surprised how big it was. A quick investigation determined that there were three separate stalls dedicated to selling barrels. A more detailed investigation determined that none had a 200 litre barrel, the closest being 150 litres, and none of the stalls had the less expensive plastic barrels. As this was our first attempt at wine making we decided to just buy one barrel and left negotiating its price in the hands of our more than capable neighbour, who drove a hard bargain.
Having made the high tech purchase of our stainless steel barrel all that remained was the purchase of a pair of lower tech knee-length Wellington boots. We scoured the entire market and found just two pairs, one a size too small, the other a size too big. Simple solution: two pairs of socks, and the larger Wellies it would be.
That afternoon our grape harvesting started in earnest. Whilst Melanie cleaned the barrel, buckets and Wellies, I sharpened the secateurs and began cutting.
Around the perimeter of our garden we have both red and green grapes so I'd decided we'd cut and crush the red ones first then top the barrel up with some green, which according to Mellie is perfectly acceptable.
25 kilos, 50 kilos, 75 kilos and still more to cut! We hadn't realised we'd have so many grapes. We ended up with just short of 100 kilos. Not too bad, considering we had even more green grapes than red.
Time was getting on so we decided to crush the reds and start on the greens the following day. Out came the socks and on went the Wellies. Whilst Melanie stamped on some grapes I loaded another bucket. When sufficiently crushed Melanie stepped from one bucket to the other and I poured the contents of the first into our sparkling new barrel.
This continued for a couple of hours until all the ripe juicy grapes were crushed and deposited in the barrel which now contained a combination of liquid and what I can only describe as mulch. Flesh from the grapes, skin, pips, stems, everything were now in it.
Our unexpectedly good harvest had left us with a small dilemma. Should we buy some more red grapes to top up the barrel and buy a second barrel for the green? Having deliberated for a while and after consulting our neighbour Mellie, we decided to do just that.
The following morning we headed off for the nearby town of Monforte to get a cheaper plastic barrel. Not only was Mellie in tow but also her four-year-old grandson.
The first shop we called in had sold out of plastic barrels, but they suggested another shop where we might get one. This had the barrels in stock, but even with Mellie's ample negotiating skills they wanted more for a plastic barrel than we had paid the previous day for the stainless steel one.
So off to another shop. They had sold out of what we wanted. A fourth shop also had plastic barrels but had some of stainless steel with a unique oil seal to prevent air souring the wine. These were very reasonably priced. We decided to buy one of these in the 200 litre size.
With barely enough space in the car for both the barrel and the extra grapes we'd also decided to buy we returned home and unloaded our purchases. Then we went back to town to buy more grapes -70 kilos each of both red and green.
Once again whilst Melanie cleaned the new barrel I started harvesting our green grapes. When the barrel was clean, out came the wellies once more and the crushing commenced.
Five hours later all the grapes had been harvested and crushed and what remained was 150 litres of red mulch and 200 litres of green mulch, which at this stage looks more like a vat of mushy peas than it does white wine.
At this point our neighbour Mellie arrived not only with further instruction and advice but also a treasured family heirloom, the "pala". She explained that once a day, round about midnight - though like everything else to do with wine making the exact time wasn't that important - I needed to pala the mulch in the barrels.
The "pala" by the way is a metre long (3 feet) branch of a tree. At one end of the main branch there are three minor braches, cut to about 15cm (6 inch) to form a natural forked claw.
The act of "palaing" the wine simply pushes all the mulch to the bottom of the barrel and helps the natural fermentation process.
A day later, and the fermentation process had started. The day after that the red mulch was fermenting to such an extent it was in danger of bubbling out of the barrel!
Things were really becoming quite exciting now, and not just for Melanie and me, but also our neighbour Mellie. Wine making in this part of Spain is the domain of men. Whilst Mellie obviously knows how to make wine, we strongly suspect that this is the first time she has been actively involved in the process.
She visits the house at least once a day, not just to check on the progress of the wine, but to reassure herself that I am doing as I've been told.
She has affectionately nicknamed me "vinatero" - wine merchant.
email address - craigandmel@msn.com
