what’s this then ??

What do you  reckon might be going on here ?

if you’re guessing ‘grape picking’, you’d be right, but then what are we up to here ?

What you’re seeing here are the first steps towards the very first ‘Chateau Southern Cross… that’s plonk from my very own grapes !!

I had a bumper crop of grapes this year and as I knew I was going to be busy and also away for a critical part of the harvest time, I gave a lot of them away to a fella called Michael who comes here for holidays and likes to make wine. I also asked Hristina if she would like the rest for rakia or wine for her and Volcho. Though she said yes, she clearly had another plan for them.

When Di and I arrived back from Plovdiv, we  were thinking rest and preparation for the next page of our holiday.  Hristina arrived here first thing one morning and informed me that it was time to pick the remaining grapes and that they would become wine…for me.

Di was upstairs waiting for me when I called her and told her to postpone any plans because I would be picking grapes. She was very excited and definitely up for being involved, so to work we went.

Hristina bought over the thing that you an see on top of the barrel and set it up in the garage.  We wrestled the bloody wasps for the sweet, sugary grapes and bucket by bucket Hristina put them through the mincer (no idea of the proper name).  We had a terrific time and Hristina really took a shine to Di, who was doing her best to talk Bulgarian to her.  When you do this, it doesn’t matter how bad your Bulgarian is, the villagers are really tickled that your at least try.  Di was actually doing very well indeed and Hristina  spent most of the working time helping her and chatting away to her…

I did explain to Hristina that we were going away and I wouldn’t be here when it was time to add the sugar. “Nyma problema’ she said, she would do it for me while I was away having a holiday, and she did and it’s now sitting in a plastic barrel downstairs festering away….or should I say maturing into a fine vintage  🙂

The first vintage is only about 20 litres and I do have to credit Hristina with most of the production, but it’s done and if I’m still here next year, I’ll certainly do it all again.

It was a great experience for me and for Di as well I think…If it’s drinkable and I go as far as to bottle it, I think I know the very photo for the label

After our rather unexpected busy day, we then threw a few things into a case and headed off the Sofia to catch a plane to Barcelona