El equipo de The Taste of Place quería filmar la vendimia manual así pues el segundo día tempranito llegamos a La Viña el Carmen de Montealegre de la Bodega Faustino González.  Es una viña pequeña de tan solo siete hectáreas de extensión y que se encuentra ubicada en la región vitivinícola de Jerez del jerez superior.

The Taste of Place team wanted to film a manual harvest.  So, on the second day we arrived very early in the morning to the Faustino Gonzalez winery´s vineyard – El Carmen de Montealegre.  It is a small vineyard, stretching out only over 7 hectares.  It is  located in Jerez´ winegrape-growing region known as jerez superior.

En la viña se producen uvas de las variedades Palomino Fino y Pedro Ximénez.  Todas las labores se realizan de forma artesanal y además, por sus condiciones geográficas y su clima, Montealegre, es reconocido como uno de los mejores lugares que produce vinos finos.

At the vineyard, the grape varieties Palomino Fino and Pedro Ximénez are grown.  All of the vineyard tasks are done in a manual and artisan form.  In addition, because of its geographic conditions and climate, Montealegre, is recognized as one of the best areas to produce fino sherry.

Nada más llega descargaron el equipo y manos a la obra. Jesse, Patrick y Victor grabaron e hicieron fotos de la preciosa viña con las vistas de la ciudad de Jerez a lo lejos y de los trabajadores que vendimiaban desde casi el amanecer.

As soon as we arrived, the equipment was unloaded and it was off to work.    Jesse, Patrick and Victor filmed and photographed the beautiful vineyard with views of the City of Jerez, in the distance, and of the workers who had been harvesting almost since sunrise.

Los trabajadores cortan los racimos que van seleccionando de las cepas, los colocan en las espuertas y cuando las llenan las acercan al carril donde se van llenando unas cajas especiales que se colocan una encima de otra y no dañan las uvas.  Luego un camión las recogería para llevarlas a la bodega donde se prensarían y el mosto resultante fermentaría en las botas.

The workers cut the grape bunches that they had selected from the vine.  They placed them in their baskets and, when the baskets were full, they took them to the area where special crates were filled.  The crates are designed to fit on top of each other without damaging the grapes.  Later a truck picked them up and took them to the winery were they were pressed.  The resulting grape juice (mosto)  was ultimately placed in wine barrels for fermentation.

Coincidimos con amigas sherrylovers que visitaban la viña y trabajaban en un reportaje.  Cuando el equipo de The Taste of Place terminó,  nos pusimos en marcha camino de nuestra siguiente parada:  Las Bodegas Lustau.

We ran into some friends and fellow sherry-lovers which were visiting the vineyard at the time and were working on a news article related to the harvest. When the The Taste of Place team completed their work, we were off to the next stop:  the Lustau winery.