Nearly done with the harvest

First sight of the 2011 Presbytere as Henry and Scott do the 'early morning' pumpovers - a bit late today on account of the rugby and last night's party.

But there it is. You see our best wine in all its newborn glory. Frothing pink like a strawberry milkshake. Half wine/half grape juice. It is just delicious at this stage though if you drink too much it carries on fermenting inside you with dire effects.

Last night we enjoyed 'Smartley's Bar' with truly amazing cocktails, then a Celebrity Wine Tasting competition which of course I won as I had Sam Neal's NZ Pinot Noir. It trounced Sir Cliff and AC/DC, plus all the usual golfers and Formula One drivers. Ken Hom came last. Luckily the requirement we all dress up as our Celebs was cancelled. By and large, Celebs should not bother with wine making, was the general view.

Dancing went on very late. Only one in the fountain. The usual one.

Vintage 2011 is virtually over. So this morning as I collected our regular massive bread and croissants order I had to say it was the last. Most of our harvesters are off on the early plane.

Just a small field of Cabernet Franc remains but there is no rush as the weather is just lovely. So we and our grapes will grab a few last rays of sun while we still can.