Right now, we have some of our 2009 whites in the tanks and some of the 2008 wines are starting to make their journey to the barrels. It’s going to be in 100s this week so hopefully that will give us the heat we need to give us nice sweet grapes.Īs our grapes continue to ripen on the vine, our barrel rooms and tanks are seeing all the action. So, where are all the grapes? Come on California! Give us the heat we need to bring up the sugar levels! The grapes can’t be picked until the sugar level is just right. Guess who got to clean all those tanks? The interns, of course. The winery is so clean that it sparkles! Every tank has been washed and they are now ready and waiting to be filled with juice. The upside is that we couldn’t be more prepared. We’ve had white grapes come in, but it’s been slow. The harvest season at Folie à Deux is off to a late start. This harvest intern business is hard work. When I got out of there, it took me 20 minutes to recover.
It was fun but don’t get me wrong, it was difficult! I was covered in sweat and my face was bright red. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures of me from my first tank cleaning. I’ll keep you updated on how that changes things. Rumor is that it might start raining in a week. Dramatic (well, dramatic for California) weather changes are keeping us on our toes. I start my morning with a pump-over that takes two hours I do enjoy watching the sunrise while I go through this process. The time needed to complete a pump-over can be anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours. In moving the juice to the top of the tank, I’m breaking the “cap” to bring flavor and color to the juice. The top of the tank is “capped” with a layer of skins that rise to the top of the juice. Each day when I get to the winery, I hook up a hose to the bottom of the tank and run the juice from the bottom to the top with an air pump. At first, pump-overs are fun, as all things are when you first learn about them. The last couple of days are mostly filled with pump-overs. We all looked the same: a bunch of ducks in the rain! I think everyone who works at the winery has thrown fashion out the door for comfort and weather protection. As I called down to the wheel from the catwalk, I couldn’t be sure of whom I was talking to. We were all dressed from head to toe in yellow. The winery supplied some styling rain gear for us. This was truly a historic storm with over 3 inches of rain in one day and plenty of wind! Well, let me tell you, working in the rain for 12 hours is far more difficult then going out for an hour of playtime for the children. When I woke up this morning I thought no big deal just a little rain…I’ve gone outside every rainy school day for the past 5 years. After days of anticipation about a huge storm, the rain has come!Īt my last job at the Waldorf kindergarten, we had a saying, “There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear.” Easy to say when you’re inside all day! I have joined the ranks of those who work outside in the rain.
0 kommentar(er)
