The Vineyard Schedule

5:45am – Wake-up

6:00am – Breakfast of muesli, corn flakes, whole milk, tea, coffee, and bananas

6:30am – Work in the vineyard. Everyday, the three of us spend four hours in the vineyard performing two tasks. 1) We wrap vines back along their supporting wires and posts, and 2) we prune around the grapes so that they could receive more sunshine during the day.

10:30am – We play a couple games of Scala 40, an Italian card game that the three of us begin to really enjoy.

11:00am – Yoga session led by Katherine.

12:00pm – Rotate through the shower and prepare ourselves for lunch. Gabe occasionally misses his shower opportunity because an unmentioned member of Team Degustation takes very long showers.

1:00pm – Lunch. Lunch begins sharply at 1pm and we are not to be late as it is the biggest and most important meal of the day. Meal favorites included quark, potatoes, mad cow butter, pineapple, spinach, eggs, potatoes, and sausages. Conversation is usually lively and topics range from salt fields to dormice.

2:00pm – We wait out the hottest part of the day in our lower level rooms where the temperature is milder. We pass the time with books, cards, and naps.

4:30pm – Excursion time. After becoming a little antsy, the late afternoon typically includes excursions, which can be grueling uphill bicycle rides to the nearby town of Riparbella, a jaunt over to the neighbor’s pool, or just a walk around the nearby area.

7:30pm – Dinner. The time of dinner is more flexible as we were explained it is okay to be 5 minutes late. This is a lighter meal accompanied by wines from the vineyard.

9:30pm – The day wraps up with a couple card games, maybe a crossword or two, and then setting multiple alarms so that we would be able to start the routine over again in the morning.