Just had this photo through from the folk at Villa Maria, along with a copy of their 2009 Harvest Report (it’s here), showing the damage that working a vintage can wreak on your mitts. I’ve never actually worked in a winery but I did end up with similar coloured hands several years ago following three weeks of grape picking in the Yarra Valley. No amount of scrubbing seems to eradicate the stains entirely, but there is something that does. After a particularly long and hot day, I was flopped in a chair (probably with a stubby of VB) when I felt this weird sensation on my hand, which was dangling close to the floor. Vladimir, our neurotic but beautiful black cat, was giving my digits a good lick and in the process removing all traces of matters grapey. Maybe there’s a niche for marketing cat’s-tongue hand-wipes to wineries around the world…