One of the things I did not associate with coming to Poland was wine. Vodka, beer, mead, liquors ranging from sweet and fruity to harsh and fire-breathing, yes. But little did I know that Poland produces small but hearty batches of wine to rival the best vino of her more clemently-climated neighbors. And even little-er did I know that Zbyszek’s penchant for experiments would lead us to our wine making operations. But when your balcony groans with the weight of deeply plump purple grapes, what else are you going to do?
My first harvest of grapes was a smashing success. I snipped and clipped at the vine for a good hour or two, washed those grapes, plucked them off their stems, and boiled them up to produce a delicious grape kompot, or stewed fruit drink. I followed the instructional video of this cute dad, baking-soda’d the grape stains out of the kitchen counter, and contentedly sipped my fruity drink. I wrapped up that experience with a bow and patted myself on the back.
I wasn’t overly concerned with the grapes left over on the vine. After all, I felt good that at least not all of the grapes were going to waste, but I wasn’t going to overly exert myself trying to gather every last purple bauble. It was only a bit later that I realized that my easy idea of harvesting differs greatly from Zbyszek’s. He sent me out again to finish the job properly, and I astounded myself by gathering another half dozen or so grocery bags full of grapes. Where did they all come from??
By now the grapes were getting sweeter so I had to contend with sugar-high bumble bees and wasps, and the grape picking experience wasn’t quite so bucolic.
This time around Zbyszek came to help me with the juicing, and we mashed and mashed to make fresh juice instead of boiled. Fresh definitely wins! Zbyszek made lighter versions, thicker smoothie-like versions, and scrumptious popsicle versions.
You couldn’t see the kitchen under the splatters of blue and purple and the floor was both sticky and crunchy from the juice and seeds. At this point my intrepid husband announced his intention to make wine. He pulled out the wine-making apparatus and proceeded to mix the leftover grape skins, seeds, water and sugar into a vat. I was rather skeptical, but we now have a beautiful carafe of wine aging in the library.
The wine is pretty funny during its first few weeks – it bubbles and gurgles incessantly, and all the skins float to the top. When the cacophony subsides after a couple weeks, you strain out the skins and seeds and then continue to let the wine rest and age.
Zbyszek does not like to waste, so we dried out the seeds in the sun, and now have two containers of dried grape seeds in the pantry that aspire to become grape seed oil someday.
Believe it or not, we kept finding more grapes peeking out on the vine! For the last harvest I recruited Zbyszek and his ladder for the hard-to-get grapes, while I mournfully greeted the shriveling vine on the balcony for the third time. We got smarter and started picking after a rain shower to eliminate the presence of bees, who lately were going craaazy over the near-raisins in the sun.
Much to my relief, this last harvest coincided with a visit of Basia’s cute friends from Rome who cheerfully agreed to take over the enormous process of washing, separating, and de-stemming these last buckets of grapes.
The effort was definitely (I think?) worth it for the grape juice, and we shall see how our little wine turns out…
Speaking of other people making wine… in October Zbyszek and I joined some friends in the charming town of Zielona Gora (Green Mountain) in the west of Poland for the annual “Winobrania” or grape harvesting festival. It’s a two-week long festival during which the little town overflows with grapes, street food, performances, fireworks, tourists, music, and of course, rivers of wine. During the weekend we were there it was nothing unusual to see people walking down a street in broad daylight drinking from a personal wine bottle.
My favorite parts of the festival were tasting the various grapes and wine, the concerts, meeting Zbyszek’s friends, and shopping in the outdoor market. Also, the tight rope walkers!
We did capture some moments of peace during the trip. The main church in Zielona Gora is beautiful. We also visited the church where Zbyszek was confirmed and where he used to play trumpet for the student mass!
We came home with a few bottles of wine to remember our trip and the joyful celebrations around the grape harvest.
Now, in mid-November, our own grape vine is brown and dry. Its glorious leaves and sweet burden have been plucked or ravaged by the cold. But we have the memory of our grand grape project, and the homemade wine still gives out an occasional gurgle.
We’ll see how it turns out!