Painting barrels and whatnot!

So, today started off pretty slow, not that much to do. Quick remontage in the morning, pulling samples and the like, then Jordan and I were assigned to paint the red barriques. Not everybody does this, it's just an aesthetic choice, but Nathalie wants them to look nice. The thing is with barrels, there's really no way to avoid dribbling on them at least a little bit, and sometimes a lot. This is no big deal with whites of course, because they don't leave a stain on the barrels. Reds do, so you can either leave them like that, with random drips and drops on each of them, or you can actually buy ones that are already painted red down the center, or you can take the lees out of a cuve that's just been emptied and paint the barrels with a sponge. That's what we did. The winery had an eerie feeling while we were doing the painting. He and I don't chat much when it's not work-related, and there were no pumps going like there usually are, the only noise was the door that refused to stay open or shut, and kept banging every time there was a strong gust of wind.
The afternoon was on track to be slow like the morning when Cyril and Nathalie arrived with an urgent change of plans. It seems that the volatile acidity in the cuve of pressed syrah was climbing, which it shouldn't, and it needed to be pumped off it's lees immediately, or the v.a. could climb above acceptable levels by Monday. All wines contain some volatile acidity, but if it gets out of hand it can ruin the wine. In this case it had started climbing because the bacteria that are in charge of malolactic fermentation had finished their job and apparently gotten bored, so they went after the small amount of sugar still left in the wine. Unlike the yeast, which makes alcohol out of sugar, the bacteria turns the sugar into v.a., so the wine had to get off it's lees and get stabilized asap. This is one of those times when being educated as enologists works in Cyril and Nathalie's favor. Were it not for her education, Nathalie may have missed the significance in the change in v.a. on today's analysis, and had she waited for her next meeting with Alain, the level could have risen too high.
I planned on celebrating the end of the work week with a steak, but I couldn't find good meat at the grocery store, apparently you have to go to the butcher, so tonight I'll be having a burger and fries and some Enfants Terribles.
Oh, and watching last night's episode of The Office.