I feel like a farmer today. I am muddy and grubby and just dirty in general. I have dust in my ears. I have dust in my nose. I have dirt under my fingernails. I can’t remember when I have felt more completely and utterly satisfied.
We harvested the grapes from the fields today. Well, I didn’t really seem to have anything to do with it. I just took pictures and got in the way a lot. Man, those guys were fast. Here are the stats from this year’s harvest:
- 17 men, 2 women, 1 proprietor, 2 dogs
- 5.5 acres of Pinot Noir grapes
- 17 men started picking at 7h30 am
- 17 men finished picking at 1h30 pm
- 28 half-ton bins
- 14 tones of grapes
- 2 truck loads of grapes down to the custom crush facility
- A dozen more people worked into the night to sort, de-stem, and crush the 14 tones for initial processing
Today, I learned (or re-learned) the value of process: The right people in the right positions and being able to repeatedly perform the same quality of service over and over. How else could we have harvested, cleaned, de-stemmed, and pressed 14 tones of grapes all in one day? Orchestrated. Performed. Like music. It could have been a symphony–simply beautiful.
All-in-all, I think it was a good haul and I feel like today, we put Bush-Field on the map. I am completely and utterly knackered though, so I will just say good night.