Saturday, September 4, 2010

Crushing Grapes

I just got done helping my friend Lori up in Qax with her summer camp! It was awesome! The kids had so much fun and so did the counselors :) But what I loved more than helping out with her camp... we got to make wine! And I mean really make it, with our feet! In Qax their is a big Georgian influence, as there are a lot of Georgians that live in that region and one of the families that Lori is really close to invited us over to help them!
First we had to harvest the grapes. Lori got up on the ladder with her friend Nona to pick the ripe grapes and throw them down into the wheelbarrow.

Then we bagged the grapes in something like a big rice sack and put the bags into a trough looking thing. The tough had wooden grates in the bottom and was tilted up on one end with a hole at the other.
Then we took turns going to work. Wearing rubber boots (making wine is not like it is in the movies with bare feet I guess! We all definitely used a pumice stone on our feet before going over to this family's house cause we didn't know!) we stomped and danced and kicked until all the juice came out of the bags.



We collected it all and put it in this HUGE barrel. But when this barrel is full it will be transfered into an even bigger clay pot in the ground. We tasted the grape juice, it was soooo sweet and delicious and I'm sure our wine will be to die for as well ;)! So much fun!