Harvest Step 2: Grape Cleaning Bee

First, the grapes had to be brought into our basement away from other real bees that might cause discomfort for our cleaning crew.
Imagine that you are in Burgundy and bringing the harvest into the cave. It could be a dark, musty area perhaps festooned with cob webs and mold. Or, it could be a bright florescent light environment with plastic chairs to do the task of grape cleaning in relative comfort.

Dictionary.com defines the term "bee" as derived from the Old English bēn meaning “a prayer, a favor.” By the late eighteenth century, bee had become commonly associated with the British dialect form, been or bean, referring to the joining of neighbors to work on a single activity to help a neighbor in need: sewing bee, quilting bee, etc. grape cleaning bee.
Little did our village cru know that the next step in our harvest process was something called the tweezer grape cleaning bee. Think of women (and equal opportunity for men) sitting around a circle with a grape cluster in hand, cleaning out the bad and yellow jacket afflicted grapes. It seemed as if everyone had their smart phones on mute and was focussed on the task of cleaning the grapes.

When all of the grapes were cleaned, they were either stomped or put into cold storage in our neighbor's scallop hauling truck.

Next blogpost will cover grape stomping. Come back and check it out!