Sauvignon Blanc, Lists

Part of being dedicated to making good wine is putting up with the inconvenience of having to perform tasks at odd hours of the day. The Sav Blanc was in the basket press slowly dribbling out the last of its juice when I went to bed. For some reason I woke at 1.30 am and thought “I don't want to get out of bed” but then I thought it would only take a minute or two to crank the press a few notches more to continue the extraction.

And that is what I did except while the juice was dripping out the Chardonnay caught my eye. In the glass demijohns the gross lees were quite thick in some. I'd been reading this week about gross and fine lees and how the gross lees can impart unpleasant attributes if they remain. Well why not rack them now while the pressing continues. And that is what happened next. It is possible to get a lot more juice out of a press if it is undone and the grape Marc stirred around. May as well do that while I'm awake.

Then there is a slow cranking to build up pressure again requiring some waiting time. This was the ideal time to unpack the dishwasher and do some tidying up in the kitchen.

Eventually at 3.30 am with the Chardonnay nicely racked and topped up, the Sav Blanc having released another 4 litres of juice and now under pressure dripping slowly it was time for bed.

Jean's alarm went off at 6 am. Might as well get up and go to the pool to clear the head and start the day with some exercise.

Lists are curious things. They can be a comprehensive bullet pointed array of jobs that need doing – just so they are not forgotten. Sometimes items are completed and crossed off, other times nothing happens. Something intervenes and the list is forgotten. Of course after a time the list has to be re-drafted and re-ordered. More delays.

Then there is the temptation to concentrate on the easy tasks, crossing them off rapidly but never ever getting to those big jobs. The full day or more types. Even when these are started and nearly finished they remain annoyingly on the list until full completion.

Nature, seasons, weather etc overshadow lists. They may force another task that is time critical to take priority.

And every now and then with great enthusiasm and determination a big task is started and finished and a line goes through its entry and the thought transit the skull “that wasn't too bad, why didn't I do that earlier”.

By the way nothing big happened today but we did put away the 150 kg of chook feed purchased a week ago, The yeast was rehydrated for all the Sav Blanc batches, the shallots drying in front of the cave were topped and tailed and put away, Another Havarti was knocked out, the grassed edges of the veg beds got a trim, The vineyard managers were contacted and a booking made to pick Shiraz tomorrow, a few hours of paid work was completed over the river and we harvested the biggest watermelon a Klondyke at perfect ripeness. Another quiet day at HHF.