May is the cruellest month

The raspberry runners that I parsimoniously transplanted from the lanes into the rows a few months ago were looking in fine fettle despite drought conditions until they were scorched by a late frost.  I hope they have enough going on beneath the surface to come again.

More recently wild winds have been the dominant force.  I cannot think  of any climatic condition less becoming to the field - a wrecking ball through its pastoral and interior qualities.  It's also meant that what little moisture the rain has donated has been swiftly eroded and the larger bushes and trees that are now in leaf have struggled to cope with wind speeds more typical of the winter months when their bare branches wisely offer less resistance.

The winery has provided sanctuary and with my warehouse approval promised to be imminent, I've started my first commercial size batch of wine.

I defrosted 40kg of raspberries from last years harvest..

 ..then scooped them into the hydro press.

The press is a rubber belly inside a perforated steel cylinder.  The fruit is put in between the belly and the cylinder and then the belly is slowly filled with water.

As the belly expands the fruit is pressed against the cylinder which also has a more finely perforated hessian sack placed within it.  The juice then flows out and is collected in buckets and then transferred to a fresh barrel.

The potter's wheel - the cake of squashed raspberry left after pressing.

To the juice is added organic Brazilian cane sugar diluted in water up to the neck of the 100 litre (hectolitre) plastic barrel.

24 hours after adding the yeast not much was happening but after a good stir, it was soon bubbling away.  In fact aping the chaotic conditions outside by frothing over the air lock, prompting some equally deranged cries of "Frying tonight!" from me as I manically took remedial action into the early hours of this morning.

The must now seems to have settled into a steady bubble.

  The cap is not at a deliberately jaunty angle, this is a work in progress! Without a moving image the slow and steady piston motion of the air lock lid as it rises and falls with the fermentation cannot be appreciated, but it is a rather soothing to contemplate and contrast with all the blustering going on outside.