In 2010 we had to severely cut back the grape vines as they  were in a pretty sorry state.  We did not expect to see any grapes in 2011 and we were right, only a handful of grapes appeared.  But this year(2012) Well!  we have been overwhelmed with the number of vines bearing fruit.  Being  a novice vigneron and spending hours on the computer at how to harvest this amazing fruit, I decided to take it easy this year and attempt to make a small test batch of home made wine.  Our preference is red, but having said that, we have just as many white grape too, so white will also be on the cards for next year too.  But for the test batch, I decided on the black grape that looked and tasted delicious.  Armed with my secateurs and rubber gloves (you don’t quite know for sure what’s lurking in the leaves) I battled with the wasps to retrieve 2 buckets of grapes.  My next job was to ‘phone a friend’ who had a few years under her belt in the making of home brew and we discussed to simplest way of making the grape juice.

Following her instructions, I completed the task and I have now a lidded plastic bucket of squeezed grapes and juice in my hallway fermenting away.  It’s in the hall as a constant reminder to stir it every day with a wooden spoon (as instructed) until it is ready to be transferred to another vessel to continue the fermentation process.  If all goes well, the vintage of Casa Moya should be ready to drink in time for Christmas – here’s hoping!