Fermentation problems

The wine is not doing what it is supposed to do. As planned, Antonio came round last Friday afternoon with all the equipment. We started picking the grapes that evening and were finished by mid-morning on Saturday.

Before lunch we were ready to put the grapes through a scrunching machine (you can tell how technical I am!) We crushed them into the massive plastic vat that we have put on a couple of pallets behind our house, under the olive trees. Darren was under instruction to give it a good stir every couple of hours with an old gnarly stick that is obviously employed every year for this purpose.

Just a few hours after we had cleaned up and covered the vat with a plastic sheet, the heavens opened. Rain had been predicted so everyone in the area was doing their harvest at the same time. When it rains here it really pours and we witnessed a fantastic storm.

Antonio came back later in the after and was surprised to see that the mixture, or must, as it is correctly called, wasn’t beginning to ferment. He got me to find an old blanket to cover the vat to keep it warm to help the process along.

Still no fermentation all of yesterday and no sign today. We are waiting on this process to take place before we can press. He checked the sugar content this afternoon but assured us that wasn’t the problem as it was nice and high.

He called us again earlier to see how things were going (no change) and say his mum remembered this happening another year when it rained straight after the harvest. That year it apparently took four days to start fermenting, a lot longer than the 16 -24 hours it recommends in my Californian home wine making manual. We're losing faith that it will ever happen. I’ll keep you posted.