Vintage 2016

On the way back from the Flinders Ranges I went via Alligator Gorge in Mount Remarkable NP. It was still hot, but there was a gorge there with an sealed road to it so Cuthman could get there without becoming a wreck.

 

Alligator Gorge

But phew it was hot, 37 degrees still. Back to Jamestown and just in time for David and Zine's baby Williams first birthday party which was held at the pub with an after party at Sean's house.

I stayed for the weekend for the first hand picking of the 2016 vintage of the shiraz grapes. The new vines were sparser and needed to be picked by hand and some of the old vines too as they had cabling down certain rows which the machine pickers would wreck. Then next weekend the machine would come up and pick the old vines, the machine works by bashing the vines and the grapes fall off.
Here's a pictorial description of how wine is made:

How red wine is made

On the Saturday some of David's friends came up to help prepare for picking, this was mainly fixing broken cabling in the vines that people have accidently cut from the previous year. We also set up a marquee in the garden for another party for William, which was really a party for David as William being one went to sleep and had to be woken up for his ice cream cake.*
A home made fire pit/bbq contraption made by David out of old car wheel rim bits was used for the bbq and to make a stir fry. You won't find this at BnQ/ Mitre 10:

Those stirring implements are about 1 metre long!

The ingenuity of David Box (Boxy)

This thing was amazing, it has a pole on which 3 cooking platforms can be rotated in and away from the wood fire underneath. The pole is also used to hold a lamp, the whole thing was welded together from different sized vehicle tyre rims. If you want to one up your neighbours, no one will be able to match this.

The evening was also a thank you and pre-thank you to all who are currently helping and who will help out next weekend, everyone also gets a decent amount of wine for their efforts.

I also made an apple crumble as the garden was overflowing with apples with a few plums in it. Everyone loved that too.

*Ice cream cake. Get a tub of quality ice cream, tip it out onto a plate, decorate with smarties, ice magic and sprinkles etc. Put in freezer until party, add a candle. Looks like a cake, fun to make, everyone loves icecream. Prep time: 5 minutes.