Photos from Chaine d'Or

http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/312203

I captured the vineyard before we pruned, and took a bunch of pictures yesterday with it all done and cleaned up. I even got Sophie to sit still for me long enough for a photo. Inside the winery Paul and I racked almost all of the barrels. He trained me on using the equipment and had me working alongside him both days.

Though I meant to take photos of another vineyard we were contracted to prune, it was raining way too hard and I was soaking wet from a quick survey of the site. The wind chill was brutal as the actual temperature outside was somewhere around 46 degrees. Bone chilling and wet.

For certain I enjoyed the challenges and technical aspects of the winery tasks from the weekend and it's always a great day at work when there is a sample of wine to taste and talk about.

We barrel tasted everything and there were some amazing highlights that I'll let Paul blog about further. One barrel had this heady aroma of cinnamon and spice, another had the most beautiful aroma of flowers; purple and white flowers. When we took samples and tasted them, they were both full bodied and fulfilling even though the nose was sexy and wispy on the flowery one. (I left varietal and vineyard specifics off on purpose).

We got home in time to catch the 2nd half of the SuperBowl though mostly I think it was on for noise in the background while we sat still and tried not to think about our sore muscles. I'll be glad when winemaking is full time on-site and not something we cram into every weekend minute we have available - it's a lifestyle change for the better, but a smoother transition from sitting on my posterior during the week to full days on my feet would be nice.