10 Apr Day 2 of Harvest at Mountford

It was another beautiful day in Waipara.  With the unusally seasonal Nor’wester winds blowing, there was a warm, dry wind all day while we worked.  The Nor’wester winds are the result of warm air movement off the Tasman Sea that comes over the Southern Alps, dropping the water over the Alps and leaving dry air that blows over the Canterbury plains. After a quick breakfast we headed up to the top of the Gradient vineyard to finish the upper half.  As we picked the flat half on Day 1, Day 2 focused on the part of the vineyard that is on the hill…..and what a climb!  Up and down and up and down all day!  What a workout!   There were 23 of us picking today and we had a lot to cover as we had to pick the top half of the 21 rows of Gradient as well as the 32 rows from the Rise Vineyard, which is also on the hill, next to Gradient.  Not only did we have alot to pick but we needed to finish both vineyards by the end of the day due to the impending rain expected tomorrow.   We had alot to pick today but we did it! Day 2’s pick brought in 95 bins of grapes from the Gradient Vineyard (1005 kilos / 2216 pounds) and 119 bins of grapes from the Rise Vineyard (1260 kilos /  2778 pounds). The last of us off the hill for the day – Doug Macdonald, Jess Hishon and Kathryn Ryan from Mountford Estate, Martin Murchison, Technical Field Officer from CRT and myself.