Last year, Flat Hal, Flat Stanley, and some new friends from the cruise ship explored Montevideo together by foot. They walked as far as they could, or so it felt, then walked some more after having a good meal.
This year the Flat Friends took a bus tour, and ventured further from the pier.
Grapes on the Vine
Last year, Flat Hal and Flat Stanley photographed grapes at a vineyard in Peru. In Montevideo, Flat Hal and Flat Halena had the opportunity to see and photograph grapes again. This time, it was easier to see the difference between the ripe Tannat grapes and the green ones that will eventually ripen into a dark purple tone.
Some of the bunches looked very close to being ripe and ready for harvest. Some showed why the vineyard said they would be harvesting for another six to eight weeks.
The vineyard employees also talked about how the seeds change color, and the skin of the grapes changes when they are ready to be harvested.
The Grapes are pressed and their juice makes wine
The Flat Friends only understood parts of what was explained about how the grape’s juice becomes wine. (The grape juice the Flat Friends like to drink starts the same way, but goes through a different process… lots of different things can come from the same starting point.)
Wine is heated; at this winery it spends a YEAR in the sun. (There is more than just grape juice in these large jugs. They have glasses upside on top to keep out rainwater, and cotton stuffed in the neck to keep out bugs.).
After a year in the sun, another year will be spent aging the wine indoors, in the “cave”. This winery makes white and red wine… what looks orange now will be red after it has aged!
Winery Visit Glossary
Harvest: The special time of year when the grapes are finally ripe and ready to be picked from the vines.
Vineyard: A type of farm that grows only grapes, usually for making wine or grape juice.
Fermentation: The “magic” process where the sugar in grape juice changes into wine.
Yeast: Tiny, living organisms that are so small you can’t see them without a microscope! They are the “secret ingredient” that eats the sugar in the juice to create fermentation.
Demijohns (The Jugs): The very large glass jugs you saw sitting in the sun. In Uruguay, they are often called damajuanas, and they hold the juice while the sun helps it turn into wine.
Just outside the cave
The Cave: A cool, dark room (sometimes underground) where the wine is kept to “rest” and finish aging after it spends a year outside in the sun.
Flat Hal and Flat Halena enjoyed the bus ride back to the ship. It crossed most of this large capital city, where we had already seen the Legislative Palace, and the office of the President. Now we ventured to the beach!
Montevideo is on an estuary. A place where a fresh water river and the salt water of the ocean meet and mingle. Along the river is La Rambla, one of the longest sidewalks of its kind in the world!
Many of us were drowsy after eating at the winery, but the guide joked that was okay, after the fiesta comes siesta! (After the party comes time to rest!)
See Hal’s Montevideo posts, including past ones at:
https://www.flathal.xyz/archives/tag/montevideo
