This has been a real autumn. The grapes have loaded the cottage eves heavy enough to fill bottle after bottle of sweet grape juice. Last autumn there was nothing at all after a terrible frost struck following a precociously early spring. There were no apples, no plums, no walnuts and no grapes. The apples press next door was utterly silent and the wine growers of the Alsace said the couldn’t cover their tax bills.
This year has been a wonderful contrast. The clink of bottles filling with apple juice has been continuous since the pressoir opened a week early. Thanks to the generosity of a friend with apple trees, we have 70 litres of cider bubbling in the garage . This weekend we harvested our own seedy red grapes. I got spectacularly stung by a wasp that hit me between my fingers as I picked and put my swollen hand in a sling for two days!
The real grape harvest started three weeks earlier than usual in the proper vinyards and it promises to be an excellent year for wine.
Here on the coldest edges of the wine country, we have enjoyed a lovely pass the parcel of plums and apples, mirabelles, and blackberries as each neighbours passes their lucious surplus on across the hedge.
This really is a proper autumn!
Apples going to be crushed for cider.
Cathy's real country garden 
Sounds delicious! Autumn is a feast for all the senses. We planted two apple trees this summer, but it may be a few years until they produce any fruit, instead we’ll be picking wild sloe berries to make gin in time for Christmas. 😊
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It will be worth the wait! A blackthorn self seeded in our garden a few years ago and we will have enough sloes for a very small bottle of sloe gin this Christmas too!
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So many apples!! 🙂 I think the really hot weather upset our apple trees this year, usually we have more apples than we know what to do with (and we give lots to the neighbours), but this year just enough to make one little apple pie. xxx
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If they fell off early, it might be heat, but it is more likely that the blossom didnt set for some reason.
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Yeah, we just didn’t really have any at all this year. x Hopefully next year there shall be lots as usual. 🙂 xxx
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Good for you, Cathy. I love the scent of fermenting apples and grapes. 🍎🍇
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So did all the ants and clouds of fruit flies that came to the grape pressing in the garden!
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No surprise there! 😊🐜
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Lovely post. I really like this time of year especially when, as you say, it’s a proper autumn. I winced when I read about the wasp sting.
Enjoy the harvest bounty. xx
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It took 4 days to go down, but the grape juice was sweet!
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It sounds idyllic, Cathy. A perfect Autumn: just how Autumn should be!
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Glad you enjoyed it!
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You live in a very generous neighbourhood! Lovely pictures. Just what autumn should be.
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I am lucky, I know!
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Mmmmmhhhhhhmmmmmm!
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Wonderful! A real autumn. Hopefully we will have one here, too.
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