This is the view from my window at the farm I'll be working on for the next couple weeks!
Yesterday was my first full day of work at this beautiful vineyard in Cecina (in the Tuscany region). It was the first day of the harvest for merlot so we got out into the field before the sunrise. We picked the entire crop (6 workers) in 7 hours. If I gained anything during that time it was incredible respect for the workers who are out in the fields everyday bent over for hours on end...and a whole different kind of appreciation for my next glass of wine. It was physically grueling but the setting couldn't have been more beautiful so I tried to focus on that when I could hardly stand up straight.
Another element that made it difficult was the language barrier. On the farm there is one person who speaks english at all so the majority of my time picking was in silence, only listening to the beautiful native tongue around me. To pass the time the workers would sing and joke, and I'm pretty sure their high spirits kept me going, in that way language is pretty universal.
To put it delicately, I was pretty done after the picking. We all came back to the farm house and sat around their table to have some lunch (my meals in this order so far since I've come here; pasta, pasta, coffee, pasta, pizza. Not sure they could get more cliche italian then that, and all pretty delicious. :) So just as I was clearing my plate, and ready to take an incredible nap, the truck full of our merlot had arrived and it was sorting time!
From 4 until 1am with a few breaks in between for food and coffee, we sorted. There is a huge machine that separates the vine from the grape, not perfectly of course though, so then our job, in an assembly line kind of fashion, was to separate any stray vines and completely clean them off before they were emptied into huge bins that later we will crush with our feet!
Needless to say it was quite a "bonding" day for me and the group of workers. By the end of the night we were all singing, and practicing our broken english and italian. It turned out to be quite a night and I was really enjoying it by then end, even with the crazy work hours.
One of the owners of the vineyard was there for some of the sorting and we got to talking (he spoke pretty good english!), he is Austrian and only in the area for a week or so. While he is here though the one place he really looks forward to going is Volterra, maybe 20 minutes from the farm. He invited me to come along with him and a few others to Volterra on friday, and apparently that is the same day Andrea (another owner and the person I was contacting about the farm) had planned a trip for me to see another vineyard and have lunch at one of his close friends restaurants. The timing for it all seemed to work out so it's looking like my friday will be quite eventful! I can't wait!
Today we are resting (thank goodness!!), an I'll try and take some more pictures of where I am staying. Signing off for now!
Melissa
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