As the days of harvest press on into mid-October and continue to wear me down, it’s always nice to have a distraction come along take my mind off the routine… Yes ladies and gentlemen, its hockey season. GO SHARKS!
If you are not a Sharks fan, you are missing out. Not only are they going to win the Stanley Cup this year, but they are the most exciting team to watch. So for two to three days a week, I will only get 5-6 hours sleep because they are that important to me. Work is not going to be fun in the morning.
Tomorrow is going to be another busy day at the winery, lots of Cabernet grapes to crush the slow way, hand sorting each cluster. I believe there are around 36 bins to go through, so enough said. Long day to come.
Watch the Sharks though, trust me you will get hooked.
Game time, till next time…
Filed under: Harvest Adventures
Foggy Foggy Foggy
Had to drive really slow today because of the limited visibility on the road, but at least it was warm outside this morning.
There are mountains behind these foggy curtains
Besides the weather, the day went well. Just a couple rack and returns of the Lewelling Cabernet Sauvignon, pump-overs, and about 30 barrels filled of Main Street Cabernet Sauvignon.
Barrels to fill, spilled a little. (Just between you and me)
The wine is still Moving (lots of foam makes it hard to put into the barrel)
Filed under: Harvest Adventures
Shaker Table helps remove raisens and stems, lots of hand picking to ensure excellent wine
My view early in the morn. Sky was on fire
Very cool
My task was dumping grapes into the hopper
Filed under: Harvest Adventures
The Ten Things I Love About Harvest:
- The people I work with
- Ability to do a variety of different tasks (minus tank shoveling)
- Understanding of how wine is made
- The experience of making wine
- The connection with Folie a Deux
- Hands on experience with many different machinery and equipment
- The 12 hour workout
- $$$$
- Foot in the door with TFE
- Conveying my story to you
God I love my job.
Filed under: Harvest Adventures
Little slow at the beginning of the day today, because we only had a couple of pump-overs that don’t really take too much time to complete. Its kinda like a hurry up and wait sort of thing.
But things got busy when we were given a work order for filling barrels with the Cabernet Sauvignon we’d brought in previously from the Main Street vineyard. This proved difficult because the wine still “moving” (fermentation still happening) in the lines, producing foam which made it hard to fill accurately.
Merlot grapes came in later in the day, and will be crushed tomorrow. We will do half whole berry fermentation and crush the other half. Fun to taste the differences between the two lots and see how much a slight change in technique can affect the final product. Winemakers have important decisions to make!
Gotta go now and catch up on my college football.
Till next time…
Folie a Deux Crush Fantasy 