Monday, September 26, 2011

In the vineyard

This Saturday was a lovely day which I spent gathering grapes in our friends' vineyard.

I love going there and enjoy it particularly when the weather is warm and sunny. And since this was a dry year, the yield was great so at the end of the day, I was exhausted. Pleasantly though. :)

Some photos from the day.




 9 o'clock in the morning






In the vineyard


View from the vineyard





Photos are mine.

10 comments:

  1. Ines, my wife and I spent 2 weeks in Croatia in Sep 2006, in a village about 40 miles south of Dubrovnik. I can recall that our neighbours owned some land with vineyards and were in the middle of the harvest when we got there. I still have very strong recollections of the smell of the freshly picked grapes and then a few days later the waft of fermenting grapes and juice once they were crushed and stored. It was incredibly heady and I loved that holiday. I could write pages on the time we had there. You live in a beautiful country.

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  2. What a beautiful day in pictures! The first picture is just magical.
    My grandparents used to grow grapes and they had five or six varieties in their garden. I remember checking almost every day to see if they were ripe enough to eat. After that the closest I came to picking up grapes from the vine was a year ago when during one of our trips to a winery we were allowed to pick up... raisings (it wasn't intentionally produced raisings - just a side-effect of one extremely hot day). Those were very tasty.

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  3. A day of sunshine, altitude and grapes - looks like it was an enchanting day, Ines.

    We used to grow Concord grapes on the farm I grew up on, and my mother would spend September making what she called grape butter (which was sort of like jam) and canning grape juice. I don't really care for either of those two things all that much, but they always made the kitchen smell so good.

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  4. Such pretty photos! The light is amazing. Thanks for sharing these.

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  5. Thank you Michael! And you visited Croatia - and a very lovely part at that. Dubrovnik and the surrounding country is the most Mediterranean of all Croatia.
    I hope you went to Dubrovnik as well. :)
    We weren't there for the crushing (and it's done mechanically now) but there are happenings during the summer all over the coast where you can see how it used to be crushed by walking/stomping on it in large buckets. :)

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  6. Undina, visiting wineries is a treat. :) I don't get to do it much but I enjoy it immensely. Especially as here many of those people make what is called "rakija". It can be made from any fruit and usually it's made from by-product of crushing grapes. And then they put herbs in it - that's my favourite (Travarica).
    My dictionary translates it as brandy. But depending on what it's made of, it has a different name for each variety.

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  7. Suzanne, it was a day to remember. :)
    Speaking of grapes in the kitchen, grandmothers here used to make grape strudel, but it was always done by using a particular type of grapes called Isabella which are very fragrant but also have very small fruit with rather thick skin. The grapes are nowadays hard to find as no one is inclined much to have them but I remember the smell and taste of that strudel. Yummy...

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  8. Thank you anotherperfumeblog. :) Hopefully they give an idea of what a lovely day it was.

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  9. Beautiful pictures! I know just the joy of being among those vines and feeling the sun on one's back...Does your friend also make homemade wine?

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  10. Thank you Helg!
    Yes, the sun on one's back (or neck and shoulders in my case) proved a bit too much for my fair skin. :) Should have known better. :)

    And yes, they do make wine, for themselves, and we are the lucky recipients of those throughout the year (both red and white and very good). :)

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