LATE HARVEST RIGEL AND FIRST TIME PORT

A month or so after our main harvest, pickers have been out again in the vineyards, collecting vine dried Chenin for the second season of RIGEL, our sweet white straw wine, and Mourvedre for our first time experiment with PORT. 

Both were pressed in the age old feet method as the grapes were too raisiny to put through the press. RIGEL is made as other wines are, just using late harvest very sweet grapes, and it should be ready for drinking in about September.  PORT is made by partly fermenting the grapes and then adding grape spirit in the form of Brandy.  Since it is a vintage port, it will be bottled soon, but will take a year or more before being released.

These pics show Koen and Esther, our current Dutch volunteers stomping for PORT, and Basil, Pardon and Jacob (with bucket), our three men workers, helping with RIGEL.