Vine collecting on High Peak

Thursday, March 29, 2007

I took Pete with me to experience my wonderful internship at Chateau Z vineyard today! It was a beautiful day, so Cliff decided to be super super nice and drove us up to High Peak in his truck, where we took in the gorgeous scenery as well as harvested a few wild grapes to bring back to the vineyard, which he had found last year growing along the winding road up to the mountain-top. They were a bit tricky to try and untangle, but Cliff managed to get two cuttings with roots on them, which we rolled in plastic bags with wet leaves to keep their roots from drying out. After taking a short refreshing coffee break upon our return (Cliff makes a very decent cup o’ joe), we planted the two wild vine cuttings in the vineyard. Then Cliff took us on a mini tour of his backyard woodland property showing us old masonry from abandoned cabins and an old cemetery. We also watched as he cleaned out the white bin (not sure what it’s called) that is used to catch the water from the creek flowing downhill, which provided the water pressure for a hose to be used for gardening, ect. It was plugged up from the silt that had accumulated over the winter, so he just unplugged it, running it through the plastic container until the water ran clear, so that the hose downhill could be used again as a supplemental water supply for the garden and vineyard. After that, he gave Pete a tour of the cellar and gifted him three bottles of wine to take back to Scotland. Needless to say, I think Pete thoroughly enjoyed himself. Most fabulous day.