Sulfur stinks.

Last night I found out that I hadn't correctly understood the way we're using gravity flow to empty the finished cuves into cuve 19 (aka The Cuve Under the Stairs). I had thought the cuve being emptied was just opened in the morning, but it's actually opened the night before and allowed to drain all night, that way the must is essentially pressed under it's own weight, and it's relatively dry by morning.

I'm working with 3 other guys here: Nicholas is the one in the middle, he's the foreman essentially, he's in charge when Nathalie's not around, he has a wife and a daughter and they live on the west side of Nimes. He has invited me to dinner sometime this week to meet the family. There is also a Nick, who is on the right here, his family has a tiny 4.5 hectare place in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. And on the left is Jordan, who comes from Burgundy, and whose father has a place in a Burgundian appellation I'd never heard of before. So that's the team.
This morning Nathalie gave the Morroccans a break and had Jordan empty the cuve, and since most cuves take 2 pressings to empty, Nick got the honors in the afternoon. Tomorrow morning is my turn.
Today I also added sulfur to a wine for the first time, which smells a bit like lighting 1000 matches and then sniffing the smoke. After nearly adding way too much because I confused milliliters with centiliters, I got the job done. I thought it important to note exactly how much was used too, considering all the hubbub out there about sulfite allergies and whatnot these days. I used 150ml of an 18% solution in a 35 hectoliter tank, which works out to about 0.000007714258%, or roughly 0.07 parts per million. Later I found out that sulfur is actually added at several different points during the winemaking process, but still, even if they put in ten times as much by the time the wine is done, that still only makes .7ppm.
Anyway, we've got everything cleaned and prepped for tomorrow now, and I've got to go grocery shopping. I'm out of baguette, and it just wouldn't be very French of me not to have baguette in the house. I think I need cheese too, come to think of it. Here's hoping my computer is finished tomorrow!