The new winery in action: October '09

In 2007 and 2008, our wine was made in a shed with a tin roof. In 2009, Richard became the winemaker at the brand new Department 66 winery in Maury. Faced with local slate, and beautifully designed, it is one of the very best new wineries in the South of France. Our wine has been made here since 2009, along with Richard's own wine, and the Department 66 wines.
Amanda competes with the bushy vines
A delicious bunch of grenache
A bit of a watchful eye from Sam on the grapes he picked
Grapes get tipped into the very swanky crusher de-stemmer.
Checking that the destemmer has removed all of the stalks
Vibrating table sorts the grapes by size - only the big enough get through....
The successful grapes get picked up by the conveyer
the conveyor carries the clean berries and drops them into the crusher
Shiny new winery or film set for the landing of steel aliens?
Justin discusses grape quality
The ever-present hoses that take the wine from one place to another
Sam and Justin watch the tank being filled with our freshly crushed grapes
The hose reaches right down into the tank and feeds in the grapes
The upper level enables close examination and control of the process
An exciting new glass-ended barrel so the grapes are visible in fermentation
A close up into the glass-ended barrel shows the grapes
Samples of the 2008 from all 3 plots of vines are prepared for a tasting session
Justin tries each sample to determine how to mix the barrels for the best blend
Conclusion? Bung 'em all in together like we did last time......
Funky tanks gleaming in the early evening light, waiting for Pink Floyd....
A grape press that really means business
The winery windows are huge and provide a great view for the workers