We have a very tiny vinyard. What it really is is one overgrown vine that is threatening to bring down the fence to which it is affixed. Last year, Year of the Vine I, basically no grapes were harvested. This may have been because we had a spell of very hot weather and the grapes instantly became raisin-fied, or it may have been that birds got all of them despite the netting, or perhaps the Vineyard Owner (VO) saw the grapes were ready but was too lazy to do anything about it.
For whatever reason, this year, Year of the Vine II, there is a bodacious quantity of little wine grapes. The VO says maybe they are chardonnay grapes, but in reality he cannot recall. We will be referring to them as chardonnay grapes to our pals, because it sounds fancy. We brought in the tiniest proportion of the possible harvest, comprised of what could easily be reached when walking to the hose and pruning the buddleia slightly to the right of the vine. This has resulted in three quarts of grape juice and an enormous salad bowl of grapes sitting on the table.
I am sort of following the procedure as outlined here, for making grape jelly: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/grape-jelly/detail.aspx. I am deeply suspicious of the extra step of having to strain jelly, and all my produce in the preserve department last year was of the jam and marmalade variety. But. We have All These Grapes. Something Must Be Done.
The following things (so far) are worthy of note:
1) Squishing a lot of grapes with a potato masher is strangely satisfying. It helps to think of someone you loathe while squishing;
2) Wine must have a tremendous amount of spider residue in it. I washed the grapes three times and found more creatures each time. I would imagine that this triple washing does not happen in real wine-making and it all just gets stomped up together;
3) Ew;
4) I am wondering if this is really what is meant when winemakers refer to "terroir." Perhaps this really means the "je ne sais quois" in your winery's produce effected by the parts per million of spiderage;
5) Ew.
