Today was the winery tour which meant I had to wake up early to be on the train by 8 so that I could get to the city, pick up some lunch and get to the meeting place on campus. I grabbed some hungry jacks double cheeseburger and chicken sandwich.
I got to south lawn on campus and there were some people already there. Nobody I really knew but I make friends easily. I was soon chatting with two people from france before we were moved undercover to get out of the rain. I then started talking with 3 guys from germany and a girl from sweeden. We joked that we had made it to the first out of three wineries because everyone started drinking goon already. We then moved to another overhange we called our second winery. Some more drinking and then moved to a third location, ie the third winery, before hopping on the bus. I sat down and a kid from italy sat next to me who lived in belgium.
We chatted and drank goon on our way to our first winery... Chandon. When we got there everyone on the bus was busting to take a piss so we took a bathroom break before going on a tour of the facilities and learning about wine. God, there is so much I didnt know about wine.... the dents in the bottle are for the fermentation process and not just bc they want to give you less wine, different wood making the barrels make the wine taste different, they turn the bottles a quarter of an inch one way and then rotate it back 1/8th of an inch.
Now for some history about Chandon: Chandon was established by one fo the most famous champagne houses, Moet and Chandon which was founded in 1743 in the Champagne region of France.
Ok thats it about history.
Here is our cute tour guy who is also possibly gay but i seriously cant tell sometimes here.
Here is what the grapes go through all during the different seasons:
Spring- September to November:
Bud Burst- As the temperature begin to rise, the vines awaken from their winter dormancy. Buds begin to burst and new shoots appear, each one destined to produce on or two bunches of grapes. The new shoots are spread along the trellis which ensures ideal exposure of both leaves and bunches to the sun. If spring frosts threaten, hellicopters can be called in to prevent frost damage by mixing warm air from above with the freezing air near the ground.
Summer- December to February:
Vine growth and Berry development: When the warmth of smmer arrives, growth accelerates. This is when our viticulturists are at their most vigilant to ensure the leaf canopy allows the fruit to even exposure to sunlight and to manage disease risk. If the crop is high, bunches are removed to ensure that the remaining grapes reach their optimum flavor. As they begin to ripen (veraison), the grapes soften, start to change colour, sugar levels increase, acidity decreases and most importantly, ripe fruit flavours develop.
Fall- March to May:
Harvest: Autumn is the business end of the vintage. Harvest is the culmination of a whole year of dedicated labour and there is a sense of excitement and urgency throughout the vineyard and winery. Grapes for our sparkling wines are picked first and Cabernet Sauvignon for still wines always the last. Once the harvest is over, the leaves on the vines turn a spectacular golden yellow and then, like a final curtain call, fall gently to the earth.
Winter- April to August
Dormancy and Pruning: During winter when the vines are dormant they are spur pruned. This is long and exacting manual work. The strongest shoots are selected and cut back to one or two buds which establishes balanced growth and the right crop level for the following vintage. Once pruning is completed, the neat rows of pruned, dormant vines are ready for spring and the start of the cycle again.
There were signs of this on the wall and i took photos but they came out readable but mad blurry. I was like, I am a bit tipsy right now and can probs read it on my camera right now, if i cant read it when i sober up then ill just get a bit tipsy so that i can read it again and put it in my blog. lol
Here is a pict of the area where they "stomp on the grapes" cept well they dont step on them no more.
The Barrel Room:
The Influence of the Barrels-
When wine is aged or fermented in barrel there are three important influences:
1) addition of desireable oak flavours (eg Vanillin) and oak tannins into the wine.
2) The rounding of the mouth feel and integration of the oak and grape flavours and
3) the slow and desirable maturation of the wine.
The choice of oak:
The winemakers challenge is to match the wines fruit flavours and tannin structure to an
appropriate type of oak- one with natural aroma and personality that will complement and enhance the character of the wine. As our signature style is one of elegance and restraint, French oak is usually the oak barrel of choice, with wines aged in both new and aged barriques. Chardonnay, our only white wine to receive barrel fermentation, is aged for 9 to 12 months in oak barrels before being blended and bottled, while our red wines receive between 9 
to 18 months barrel ageing, depending on the grape variety.After this we went to the shop to buy some if we liked and they also sat us down to have a sample glass of one of their three available wines. I had a sparkling sweet white : )
They also gave us a free peice of cheese and bread!! ohh ahhh, so generous.
After this people could go buy some or wander outside. I wandered outside and tried to take a jumping shot with the vines in the back.
We then got back in the bus, drank some more goon on our way to the next one. This winery was a bit different. We essentailly got our glass and could have any wine/as much wine as we wanted. I tasted a lot of wines and learned some interesting things. I do not like sweet red dessert wines. I do not enjoy Savengon as much as Chardonnay. I completely find Shiraz too woody. Moscota is still my fave.
I used the bathroom and something minor and funny happened that I laughed the whole time. I then realized I was drunk.
We got back on the bus and went to some little town to have lunch. I already had mine but some others didnt. So we sat outside a restaurant (bc they had no room inside) and I ate my hungry jacks while others ate or bought theres.
We then got back on the bus for our final wine stop. I was a bit tired of sweet wine at this time and the food in my stomach soaked up some of the booze, sobering me up. The third winery had a hens night going on. Everyone was a bit rambunctious at this point. I tried to have a glass of Riesling but tasted it and knew i was done for the day. I put it in the big as spit pot that was sitting there. To me the wine tasted pretty bad, but idk if it truely was bad quality or i was just over it. some things in the 3rd winery...
I like the sign, not so sure about the moose.
After some of the guys almost got thrown out and we finished we headed to a side trip to go to a brewery just to mix it up a little. It wasnt officially part of the trip and you had to pay for the beer so I stayed out of it. They sold some choc beer which sounded interesting but I didnt want to have to pay. I stood outside with two aussies and an american as they drank their beers, told stories of them and their girlfriends new cats, etc etc.
After this we got on the bus to head home. I sat next to the group i talked with at the beer bar. After the winery everyone planned on going to some all you can eat buffet of dumplings which was 15$. However, I had lasagna waiting for me at home which i couldnt pass up.
I got home in time to run into bec bf she was out for the night. I had had a long day and not enough time to get ready to go out with her so i stayed back. We just relaxed at dinner and watched tv afterwards. I had a few good glasses of milk to get rid of the sweetness left in my mouth from the wine.
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