I Would Like 200 Pounds of Grapes, Please

We're taking the plunge and purchasing 200 pounds of Chambourcin grapes from Doug Fabbioli at Fabbioli Cellars. If all goes well, we'll have cases of delicious, drinkable, and/or fermented red wine in a year!

The biggest challenge this week has been finding something with which to pick up the grapes. After spending way too much time in Lowe's and Home Depot, I settled upon the Rubbermaid Brute 20-gallon container. I'm going to avoid the phrase "trash can" since that sounds disgusting. The key thing here is that they're food-grade. You'd think it would be easy to figure out what's food grade plastic and what isn't, but they don't make it easy and the staff at your local big box story is reliably clueless. One thing to remember is that while plastics labeled HDPE (high density polyethlene) can be food grade, not all HDPE plastic is food grade. Turns out the Rubbermaid "Brute" product line is reliably food grade, and these 20 gallon containers not only fit in my Chevy HHR, they should still be movable once filled with grapes.

And just in case you thought I was fretting this much about what to put the grapes in for pickup, these handy trash cans will also serve as my primary fermenters. In other words, the grapes will reside in these containers until the yeasts have converted the sugars into alchohols.

Now that I'm ready it's just a matter of waiting for the word from Fabbioli Cellars that the grapes are picked and waiting. I have an image of Doug standing out in the vineyards with magic charms and chicken bones asking the sky gods to tell him when the grapes have reached optimal ripeness. I can't wait.