This year we are organizing with our neighbour from Domaine de Lancement the possibility for tourists to come and pick grapes for a day, maybe 2 days. Stay in the B&B for a weekend, or the gîte for a week and experience France in a new way.
Most of the grapes in the area, or in the world I think, are harvested by machines. A machine does in a day what it took lots of people weeks to do. Big groups of people, the family, the neighbours, friends and whoever was available could come and help picking grapes. In exchange you would help your neighbours, friends or relatives to do the same in their fields. And of course, according to the French tradition big lunches were prepared for all the workers.
To keep part of this tradition going Sandrine Annibal harvests every year a part of her production by hand. She starts at 8:00 in the morning, when it is not too hot. Then around 10:00 o'clock a morning snack is arranged, and everybody has a bit of a break. Then the work continues until 12:00 or 13:00 o'clock, and everybody is invited to come and eat together at the Domaine. End of the work and the relaxing can start. The meal can last until 17:00 or later.
We don't know when the harvest will be yet. It is to be decided when the flowers bloom and the summer comes. Usually it is around the last weekend of September or the beginning of October.
So if you've always wanted to pick grapes in France, or are member of a wine-club and want to do something else than wine tasting, or want to come on an active holiday, feel free to contact us for more info.
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