Bacchus, the ancient Greek god of wine, must have been looking down favourably upon the students of Anson Street School yesterday as conditions couldn’t have been better.
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Teams of students from Anson Street, Canobolas Rural Technology High School and Orange High School lifted the bird netting and with ruthless precision, excised the sweet purple grapes from the vines into buckets that other Anson Street students then emptied into the bins.
Agriculture teacher at Anson Street, David Gell, said the yearly harvest was an invaluable experience for the students.
“There is a wide range of students that can participate in an activity like this,” Mr Gell said, “The viticulture industry is a significant one in this area and they are gaining valuable skills for when they leave school.”
The 1600 tempranillo vines have been on the site for five years and this year is the vineyard’s second harvest.
The first harvest of any grape crop is always low but last year’s harvest was also hampered by the drought.
“Last year we got 40 cases of wine,” Mr Gell said, “This year we will be doing much better than that.”
Viticulture teacher at TAFE Ian Manchester is enthusiastic about this year’s vintage.
“It looks good, the fruit’s a great quality and there is virtually no disease here which is great considering it was such a bad year for it,” he said.
The workers on this vineyard won’t be getting to taste the wine however, as the majority of them are well under the legal age.
Year 9 student at Canobolas High School Amber Noon was one of the many students from that school who volunteered their time to help with the harvest.
“It’s been great to get involved and to represent our school,” she said.
mark.logan@ruralpress.com
