08-04-05 - Getting Tanked!

I'll briefly show vine shots, but far more exciting happenings are afoot! Vine 2 is a long, thin shot this week to demonstrate our irrigation system. It is a drip system that slowly releases a trickle of water to the base of the vine (something not allowed in France). Since I normally take my photos late in the day, this was an oddity, having headed into the vineyards around lunchtime.

Vine 1 is continuing along nicely with good canopy coverage on the grapes, getting the full warmth of the summer sun. I am seeing ample verasion on the valley floor, but we are still a few weeks away from any color.

What was exciting for us today was the arrival of new stainless steel tanks. The tanks are trucked in on large flatbeds and a crane is rented to stage them outside the winery. The winery is gravity method with an open-grate stairwell that runs down through the center. It has been specially designed to have units of the stairwell removed for the very purpose of bringing in or removing tanks.

The tank was put into place and very slowly hoisted from the bottom level of the winery up to the second level. From there, the tank had a large strap wrapped around it and was carefully brought in, via forklift, to the second level where a stand awaited its placement.