Its Getting Cold...

I'm referring to the 2009 white wines that are cold stabilizing, not the frigid outdoor temperatures that we have been getting in the Bay.

Cold stabilizing is the process of chilling the wine to near or below freezing temperature in order to get tartrate crystals to form in the wine so they may be removed. This is done as a step to help clarify the wine before it is bottled. It will also lower the acid levels in the wine, since it is the tartaric acid crystallizing. Here is a link for info regarding the cold stabilizing and clarification process with wines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_stabilization.

That's right, we are preparing to bottle our 2009 white wines next week! Well, not all of the white wines, only the ones that do not see oak. So, we will be bottling our Viogner, Sauvingon Blanc and Muscat Blanc. (some of the Viogner and Sauvingon Blanc did see neutral oak during the primary fermentation in order to help the mouthfeel of the wine). It is exciting to see the grapes that you helped turn into wine being bottled, and it is cool that it is such a short process for these wines. When talking to the head winemaker, he stated that for these particular wines it is best to bottle them early in order to capture the bright fruit and aromatics.

I cant wait to try some of the 09's!

Sanity

Well, it has been a long while since the last post... there are a few reasons for this, mostly being that late October through mid November was really the belly of the beast in the cellar. But now there are no excuses, so here we go...

The leaves on the grapevines are turning to beautiful different shades of fall colors, and things are quieting down in the cellar. with all of the final drain and presses done, all that is left to do with the reds are some splash racks and barreling down. I believe that the only red wines in tanks right now are Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvingon, which were the two last varietals to come in. Things seem really quiet, and the mood has changed... everyone finally can take a deep breath and relax.

We actually did our last drain and press last week, which was kind of hard to believe. For the longest time it felt as if things would never end. It is a bit bittersweet with the harvest ending. It was a lot of fun and a tremendous learning experience, but it is a position that doesn't last forever. Furthermore, it is in my opinion an unstainable one regarding the work itself, as it wears on the body and mind. Crush is a job that is worked full throttle, and it is hard to go at that speed for longer periods of time. Don't get me wrong, I love it and will do it again and again, but it gets crazy! So, I am sad that it is over (my last day in the cellar was last Wednesday), but I look forward to what the future holds.



shoveling out the grapes


preparing to enter the tank


This is the inside of the press... the white part on the right is the bladder that fills up with air. The purple is all of the grapes that we clean out when we get inside.

Work Makes Me Hungry!

Well, I just finished draining out 3 large tanks of fermented wines to make room for some Alicante Bouschet and Cabernet Sauvingon. This has been one of the biggest "dilemmas" lately... room for more grapes coming in.

Draining the tanks is quite a workout, and I typically end up shoveling about 2-3 tons per tank, sometimes more (this is what really gets the appetite going). It's fun to get in and shovel, and gives you a good chance to catch all of the new smells that the wine is putting off. Its really amazing how the smells and flavors change throughout fermentation. The grapes that we shovel go into the press, and the pressed juice goes into a tank... after a week or so it all goes to barrel.

Gotta run, lots more work to do in the cellar. Ill make sure to give a good update on the "home front Zinfandel" ASAP.

Friday Thoughts

The workweek is coming to an end...

Its been a bit of a crazy week between the weather, work and the wine at home.

Rain is not good for grapes at this time of the year do to a number of reasons: mold, botritis, breakage etc. Certain varietals are at more risk, in particular thin skinned and thick clusters, such as Zinfandel, Grenach and Pinot Noir. Cabernet Sauvingon is thick skinned with looser clusters, so it holds up well to the wet weather. We took in all the fruit that we could right before the weather came, and will be taking in much more as things dry up today and tomorrow.

On the homefront, things are also drying up... with the wine that is. I'll get some details up tomorrow. Work is calling, gotta run.
Also, this is my last day of the "late shift", so no more getting home at midnight!

I Love Making Wine

Its been a crazy last week. We have been taking in an where from 15-25 tons a day over the last week... with more and more grapes coming in, there are more and more punch downs, pump overs, inoculations and additions. We are also starting to press off the fermented red wines from the grapes (this means lots of cleaning and scrubbing!). So needless to say things have been non-stop in the winery (I still love it, and it makes time fly).

I have been working the PM shift for the last week, which begins at noon and goes until around 11pm. There is a lot more cleanup working this shift, but it is also a little more "relaxed", as I am not running around doing pump overs and punch downs non stop. We also get to crank the music because there is nobody around after 6pm.

The late shift worked perfectly for me last week, as it afforded me the time to pick up my grapes in Healdsburg, off of Lytton Spring Rd. (for those of you familiar with the Lytton Springs location of Ridge Vineyards). I picked up 800lbs of Zinfandel grapes, which came in at a low 23.1 brix. I split the must up into two batches in my fermentation vats, and pulled about 4 gallons of juice off of one of them (referred to as a Saignee in France). I did this to get more skin to juice contact (flavor, color, concentration), and also to make a rose with the juice I drained off. After sitting for a couple of days cold soaking in dry ice, I re-read the brix of the must, which was at 24. By the inoculation on Saturday I think the brix was probably around 24.5. So, I have about 90 gallons of Zinfandel fermenting in two different styles (I used different yeast on each one, one for black fruits in the Saignee, and the other for spiciness in the "regular"). I also racked off my rose juice after cold settling in the fridge for 4 days, and just inoculated it yesterday with two different yeast strains (one for white burgundy, one for red). I am very excited, busy and tired!

Color me Purple

As we are getting into crush I seem to have a knack for getting soaked with wine and water. With the grapes coming in like crazy (even though we are not at max capacity yet), we are already a few hours behind by the time we get into work between the pump overs, punch downs, inoculations and additions.

Steve and I are going to be working the "PM" shift for two weeks now, and got our first taste of the late shift on Saturday; definitely a lot more cleanup, which is hard to believe. However, there are some benefits to working the late one; we can crank the music, have a brew, get to clean up the leftover lunches, and sometimes we even get dinner, which is typically leftovers from an evening event or wedding. Last night after work we got treated to crab souffle, fillet Mignon with prawns, which we paired with some Estate Bordeaux blend, Cab and Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot.

I really love making wine. Being around all this fermenting fruit has been driving me crazy to make my own wine. So, I decided that I will. I am picking up a quarter ton of Dry Creek Zinfandel must(crushed grapes) early wednesday morning, and am very excited.

Loving the Crush

We've seen a lot of grapes come in over the last week; Pinot Noir, Merlot, Chardonnay, Muscat Blanc, Viogner and Syrah. And of course, with more fruit comes more juice and fermentation.

With the red wines fermenting there is a lot more work to do in the cellar, mostly because process the red wines differently than the whites. With white wines the juice is pressed off the skins immediately after being crushed, but with red wine the grape skins soak with the juice for an initial "cold soak" period, and also for the entire fermentation period. This is what gives red wines their color and tannins.

During the cold soak period and fermentation, we have to do punch downs and pump overs. During fermentation red wines form a "cap", which is when all of the fermenting grape skins rise to the top and form a thick layer. Punch downs and pump overs mix the juice with the cap to ensure maximum flavor extraction, fermentation and also to help keep the temperature even throughout the holding tank or bin (one product of fermentation is heat energy which raises the temperature)



pump over from top
open sump pump over

The days when I work in the cellar doing the punch downs and pump overs I get the chance to try the fermenting juice at all different sugar levels and alcohol content. It really is amazing how the grape juice turns into wine... from such a viscous and sweet juice to a fermenting monster, gradually becoming a refined, sometimes delicate finished product.

Today I worked the morning shift, doing punch downs, pumpovers, innoculating and also some racking. It was a short day because we split the weekends up into morning and evening shifts when we dont have grapes to be crushed. I had the opportunity to show some good friends of mine (they just got engaged and are checking out CLC as a possible wedding venue)the winery after work. I really love being able to take a tour of the winery and taste wines, especially when I can show it to good friends who are also "wine buddies"... Never had so much fun working a Saturday.

Busy Day(s)

Today was the first glimpse of how busy things are going to get. We took in roughly 10 tons of Merlot, 5 tons of Viogner and a few tons of Pinot from the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was a long day but it was very exciting getting to work with Pinot for the first time, and the time flew by. We wont be taking in any fruit tomorrow, so it will be a little slower.

(Viogner grapes waiting to be crushed and pressed)
(Pinot grapes being dumped into the hopper )
(sorted Pinot grapes heading to the crusher)

Its Wednesday and..

(The first of the Merlot just beginning fermentation)

The week is really flying by. Work hasn't been as physically taxing as last week (due in large part to no bottling thus far) and has also been a little more mellow. We brought in the first of our reds on Monday, a total of 5 tons of Merlot a small vineyard just down the road. We also brought in the first of the Viogner yesterday, and more Merlot this morning from our O'brien vineyard on the Corduval Golf resort.

(hydrating the yeast before innoculation)

Things are really going to be ramping up over the next couple of days, and we should be seeing more Merlot and Viogner, and also the first of our Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir! I am especially excited for the Pinot. I had a chance to taste juice from the field sample we took this morning, and it was very complex and delicious... almost a mocha java/coco profile to it. It will be very interesting to try the wine from this juice in a year or so.

I am really starting to settle in with the job. I am getting familiar and comfortable with the tasks and daily routines. The coworkers and staff are great, and it really is an excellent place to work. I feel very fortunate for the opportunity that was given to me and know that I will look back on this as a special time in both my career and life.

Busy Season Just Around the Corner

To recap last week, we bottled roughly 7400 cases which included 6 different varietals, and pressed the juice from the last of our Sauv Blanc grapes.

Looks like the red grapes will start coming in this week, with the possibility of seeing Merlot as early as tomorrow. I cannot wait to see the wine making style that is used for reds, and in particular how each varietal is handled differently. We may also be seeing Viogner and Muscat Blanc towards the end of the week. It should be very busy, fun and informative.

Bottling... Ughh. Well, We Need Something to Hold our Wine.

Well, its been a bottling week. We are on our way to the 7400 mark that will be done friday afternoon. To break things up Steve (the other intern) and I rotate days bottling... Yesterday I did some racking and barreling down, and today I was back on the bottling "assembly line".

We processed the last of the SB grapes (63 tons total) today, and should be on to the Pinot later this week... one small vineyards worth. Other than the bottling grind, this is the calm before the storm.

Im beat from todays bottling, and will enjoy the evening having some brews watching the sharks rookie game at logitech ice... GO SHARKS!!!!

A Busy Labor Day

Labor day was a busy one at CLC, for both the production team and the tasting room staff. With ripe fruit and bottling to be done, Labor Day was not a holiday this year for production. Today I helped with the bottling of our 2008 Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot, which was the original wine of CLC that was made with the grapes from the backyard of the CLC's founders in Saratoga. Now there are a few additional vineyards that provide the fruit for the '08's 2400 case production.

Bottling is a very streamlined process for us with the Bay Area Bottling mobile service. By streamlined I do not mean fun or easy (bottling 28,800 bottles of vino gets a tad, um, repetitious), just very trick if you will. Bay Area Bottling is owned by CLC, and provides bottling service for not only us, but many other wineries in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Napa, Paso Robles and the Gilroy area. Other than operating the program and setting up the machine, which is done by Dimitri and Plamen (they run the bottling unit), there are 5 other jobs to be done... emptying the bottles to be filled, two people putting the full bottle into the cases, one person stacking 64 cases onto a pallet, and one person wrapping the cases and loading moving them with the fork... I got to do all the jobs but the fork, and probably moved about 500 cases of wine at 40lbs a pop... I will be sore tomorrow.




Jason and Steve pressed 8 tons of SB grapes... I will do grapes tomorrow to break things up. Looks like it will be all SB grapes this week, as the Viogner have slowed up a bit in ripening.

The Weekend is Here

(8 days into fermentation... tastes like apple juice!)


Earlier last week it looked as if all the SB grapes would come in by Friday, but for some reason the brix were hovering around 1 percent less than the winemakers wanted. We did one press load (4 tons) on Thursday morning, after doing two on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully the rest will come down by next Tuesday. We have inoculated 6 tanks so far, with roughly 13,000 gallons of juice hissing and bubbling in the tanks. Also, there may be some Viogner grapes coming in by the end of next week.

Even without grapes to crush I was staying pretty busy over the last couple of days. Between field sampling, processing the grape samples, racking, additions and cleaning, my feet have become rather sore (now I know not to wear rubber boots all day!). The boiler is down right now, which means hot water at this time, so when we rack the tanks (3000 gallons) they have to be scrubbed by hand. This makes for a rather sweaty, wet (soaking) and tiring job. But hey, it needs to be done, and my body doesn't need the calories... plus, I don't feel as guilty having that splash of wine in the evening.



Yesterday we had a nice BBQ lunch will all of the production crew, and a couple of the folks from the business office came down too. It was a potluck and there was plenty of food... burgers, sausages, tri tip, chips, garlic bread, pasta salad, corn, cake, brownies etc. All served at a long table. It made for a nice break in the day, and I think it served as a good time for everyone to enjoy company and some good grub. As crush picks up we will be having more and more of these.

At the end of the day my girlfriend met me at the winery, and I had a chance to show her around. Jason gave me the green light to do some sampling with her, and we got to try some of the wines that are in the tanks waiting to be bottled on Monday.... O'brien vineyard Cabernet Sauvingon, Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Biagini Pinot and Chard, and Erwin Pinot, which is a limited production and we are actually out of in the tasting room. We also did a barrel sample of some of the younger Pinot in the barrel. It was the most fun wine tasting that I have done!



I am really falling in love with the job. It is a lot of hard work, but I like hard work when it is something that I am fascinated with, and want to learn as much as possible. I realize that this time is something that I will always look back on and cherish, a very special time that I don't take for granted.

The Grapes are Coming!

...And have been since early yesterday morning. Warm to hot weather over the weekend (it hit triple digits!)has ripened up the Sauv Blanc grapes, and we have been processing roughly 8 tons per day since yesterday.

The vineyard team arrives earlier than the production team, so by the time that I roll up around 7:45am, we have a full "press load" ready to go. By press load I mean enough grapes to fit in CLC's 3 ton grape press, which we actually squeeze about4 into. The grapes are in "half ton" bins (see below... bins are stacked waiting to be taken to the vineyards and filled), which hold closer to 900 lbs of Sauv Blanc grapes. Other varietals with bigger grapes and tighter clusters will actually tip the scales over half a ton.


We use a forklift to load the press, with one peron operating the fork while the other uses a shovel to endsure all of the grapes are making it into the press, and to also help level out the grapes in the press. Once shovel cannot level out the grapes, we close the lid/door on the press, rotate a couple of times, then open the lid and continue to load. Once the press is loaded, we run an automated press program, which takes roughly 2.5 hours. We pump the juice from the press into two different holding tanks through 3" hoses using an air compressor... one is referred to as "free run" juice, which is the juice that the press squeezes out up to 600 millibars of pressure. Once we hit the 600 mark, we shut the valve to the free run tank and send the >600mbar juice to the "press" tank.

(above)This is the area where we load the grapes into the press... on the left is the sorting line for reds, and on the right half of the picture is where the press is located, underneath the ladder, which is where we stand to help get the fruit through the funnel. Ill get some better pics up shortly.


Once all of the juice is pressed, we make our first additions, which always include some sulfur and Lysozyme, which work with the eachother to inhibit bacteria, or as I like to say, prevent funky stuff from happening. This is very standard in all winemaking, both recreational and commercial. Within a few days the wine will be inoculated with yeast and begin fermentation. The grapes have come a long way to get to this point, and are now truly embarking on their journey to becoming wine.

Reflections on Week No. 1

(Cabernet Sauvingon block at CLC)
Week one was definitely a bit of a whirlwind. Looking back I am very happily suprised with how much responsibility I am given and the opportunity for learning and growth that it provides. I'm getting more comfortable with the tasks and am confident that it will become second nature shortly. I am looking forward to the new week, and curious to see how the heat spike over the weekend will play a role in the harvest.

Last Couple of Days...

The last couple of days we didn't get any fruit in, so it's been a little slower and less physical. Kinda puts what harvest at "full throttle" will be like into perspective: nonstop busy. But, that doesn't mean that we've been idle.

With no grapes to crush, we had the chance to check out the O'brein vineyard, which is one of Clos LaChance's other vineyards that is not on the estate. It is a total of 85 acres of Cab, Syrah and Zin located on the Courduval golf resort, which is right next to CLC. After we checked out the vineyard, we headed back to the estate vineyard and took field samples of 5 different vineyard blocks... 1 Viogner, 2 different Merlot blocks (an upper an lower block that are right next to each other), a block of Malbec and 1 of Muscat Blanc. The whole idea behind field sampling is to take a COMPLETELY RANDOM sample of fruit of the vines to get an idea of how the grapes are coming along. I'll go into detail about how we do the field sampling a little later.


Once we get the samples back to the winery, we hand crush the grapes and take the juice to the lab, where we analyzed the Brix (sugar), PH and TA (tartaric acid). From there the wine making team will have a better idea of fruit maturity and harvest dates. I finished the day out with some good ol' barrel inventorying.





Today we actually inoculated (added the yeast to start fermenting the sugar into alcohol) the first juice of the year. We pumped two tanks of the "free run" Sauvingon Blanc juice (2800 gallons roughly) into one larger holding tank. From there we heated up the holding tank to 55 degrees from 45 (more temp, more energy) and added the yeast and some other goodies. Now we are really making wine. Today we did it under the direct supervision of the assistant winemaker, but as more and more grapes come in, and as Steve (the other intern)and I get more comfortable, we will be doing this on our own (under the direction of work orders, which are explicitly detailed). We wrapped the work day up inventorying new barrels, stamping them with their new barrel number, and stacking them in the barrel room with the forklift.

I finished my day off at the winery enjoying a glass of Chardonnay and some live music at the "Time for Wine" event, which is every Thursday, and will continue through October. If anyone is in the area and likes good music, wine and food (you can bring your own picnic if youd like!!!), you should check it out... good fun. http://www.closlachance.com/Visit-Us/What-To-Do.

We have another 4-5 tons of Sauv Blanc grapes coming in tomorrow, so it should be busy one!


(Viogner grapes)

Getting Into the Groove of Things.

With day two down I am starting to feel more settled in. My body was definitely aching this morning as I got out of bed... definately a direct result from the labor and unorthodox/unfamiliar movements my body made yesterday. I feel like I got a lot of that (lactic acid, soreness etc) out of me today, and think that my body will be used to the physical demands of the work by weeks end. It is nice to know that you are burning calories non stop all day... especially when you have a daily wine habit and a sweet tooth.

Once again we jumped right into things upon arrival at work. This morning I got to work with Jason (assistant winemaker) crushing and pressing the Sauv Blanc grapes that came in. Yesterday they did around 8 tons, and we did a similar amount today. I will make sure to get up the number of gallons in the tank soon. I inventoried empty wine barrels today, around 240 total(man, there are a TON of different barrel types out there). This kind of ties into what Steven was doing yesterday with the barrel sampling and profiling. Once the barrels are "inventoried" (barrel type, barrel #, toast level etc), Steven will know what is where for this years juice, and can refer back to his notes about the specific flavor profiles.



Forklift! I learned how to use one today, and used it to dump about 4 tons of pressed grape skins (it weighed that much before the press, not sure how much after). That was definitely a very fun first. Once everything was dumped, it was time to clean out the crush/press tank. I actually climbed into this thing in my big rubber boots and hosed the hell out of it for about 10 minutes. They do say that it takes water to make wine...

It was another great day! Learning a ton and having fun.

Feeling tired... In a good way. Maybe Satisfied is the Word.

The first day of my new position has come and gone. I have officially been waiting for this day since June 15th 2009, but have been searching for this type of change for years.

Today was dirty, wet, unfamiliar, informative, social, physical, fun and a great new experience. I started the morning with Jason, the assistant winemaker at Clos LaChance (CLC) giving both myself and Steve, the other intern, an abbreviated tour of the facility. From there I threw on some large rubber boots and got to racking with the help of Ulises, who is one of the local "cellar pros". Racking is where you remove the wine from the barrel into a temporary storage container, and then dump out the lees, or sludge, which settles to the bottom of the barrel. From there it will either be bottled or go back into the clean barrel/container. These will be bottled within the next couple of weeks. We got a very nice break in the morning to say cheers to the new harvest with the whole CLC family. Check out the clips on YouTube of Steven Tebb, the Head Winemaker at CLC, doing the "christening of the grapes" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQQWwieBNhU&feature=player_embedded).


All in all we (Ulises and I) racked 60 barrels of wine today (that's is roughly 3600 gallons!). We did 20 of the 2007 Estate Zinfandel, and 40 of the 2007 Estate Cabernet Sauvingon... only 40 more of the Cab to go. Jason and Steve focused on crushing and pressing the Sauvingon Blanc grapes that came in this morning. I cannot recall the exact amount that was worked with, but I'll make sure to get some specifics up over the next few days. There are two stainless steel tanks full of fresh juice waiting to be fermented right now. With the two tanks full of juice, Ulises showed me how to do "additions". We added a little SO2 amongst others to the equation under the explicit direction of the winemakers as the day wound down.

It was a great first day, and I definitely had a chance to learn a ton. During the morning I got a chance to chat with Steven Tebb (see below) as he did some barrel sampling and ask him exactly what it was that he was doing. He explained that he was doing this sampling in order to help track the barrels that were being used. That is, he was taking detailed notes of what effects upon the characteristics and flavor profiles of the wines that the barrels were responsible for. Ultimately a perpetual puzzle piece that the winemaker uses to best express what they are trying to achieve with each specific wine. Cannot wait for tomorrow.

'Twas the Night Before Work...

So, I am less than 24hrs away from starting my new position, and brimming with excitement; not only about the position, but about life and the endless possibilities and combinations that lay ahead. I decided to use up one of my last free days before the crush doing one of my favorite things: Wine tasting.



Saturday my friends and I shot up to Dry Creek and Alexander Valley to do some tasting and also pick up some of the wines that I purchased at the wine road barrel tasting weekend in March of this year. We first visited the Dry Creek area, stopping at Ferrari-Carrano, David Coffaro, Forchini and Papapietro-Perry. We killed the hunger bug with an amazing visit to Willis Seafood... please refer to pic. Then we wrapped up our visit with a visit to our friends at Stryker with a bottle of some Russian River Valley Chardonnay on the deck.



Next post will be about the new position, finally...

Willamette Valley Visit

With a month off in between jobs, my girlfriend and I decided we would go on vacation... but where? We were originally considering an all inclusive type tropical stay, but wanted to do something a bit more "involved", and "adventure packed". Plus, I knew that I would probably spend the whole time at the swim up bar, which sounded dangerous. So, we decided that a road trip vacation would be the perfect way to stretch our dollars and vacation days.

Our trip took us up to Seattle first, where we enjoyed great food, friends, wine and scenery. While in Seattle, we spent a day tasting some great Columbia Valley wines in the "neighboring" town of Woodinville. Next stop was the Olympic Peninsula, Lake Crescent to be exact, where we camped a couple of nights... in the rain. We made the best of it and did some very fun things like visit the local hot springs (Sol Duc). Then on to Lake Quinault in the rain forest, where we had a chance to get dry, eat some amazing food, and yes, drink great wine. Last stop, Willamette Valley.

We spent 3 nights in the town of McMinnville at the Hotel Oregon, a very eclectic, funky and affordable place to stay. Oh yeah, they have a great rooftop bar too. On our first day we spent some time up around the very tiny AVA of Ruby Hill (Penner-Ash and Aramenta Cellars) , and also in Yamhill-Carlton AVA (Laurel Ridge). For day-2 we focused our interest in the Dundee Hills and Carlton (Argyle, Domaine Drouhin, Erath, Archery Summit and the Carlton Winemakers Studio) and for day 3 we did Eola-Amity Hills (Cristom, Witness Tree and Amity Cellars), in addition to a couple of tasting rooms in town (Eyrie and Panther Creek).

The time we spent in Willamette was great; we of course had a lot of fun, but we got a lot more than just a good time out of it. I had tasted some Oregon Pinots before, but I was able to try many great wines from all areas of Willamette. Honestly, I cannot tell the subtle differences in the AVA's... Someday maybe. But, I did leave having enjoyed the Dundee Hills the best out of what we tried, and was able to see the tremendous difference in the 06 vs 07 vintage (not excited about the latter), which was most noticeable with the wine from a non-irrigated vineyard. And, of course, we were in beautiful wine country, but different from any area that we have visited thus far.... Small Vineyards in rolling hills, tasting rooms and wineries accessible via dirt roads (the Ruby Hills Area is all dirt roads!), pine trees and forest up to the edge of the vineyards (we are used to the oaks down here in CA), and beautiful views of the valleys. I cannot wait to go back again, but meanwile I have some inventory from the trip to tide me over.

Taking the Plunge into Wine

I didn't always know that I wanted a career in wine. For the longest time I did not know what it was that I was truly passionate about. I had an idea of what I wanted to be, an entrepreneur and business owner, but was always nervous, uncertain or apprehensive about a "career". But I knew that upon graduation I was going to need to get a job ASAP or starve.

Out of college I worked in the Healthcare Industry for 3yrs, something I really had no interest in. As a matter of fact, if "Healthcare" was the topic of study for a class in College, I'd of probably ended up playing hooky. But, coming out of college I was eager for the opportunity to get some professional experience under my belt. Furthermore, this would give me the chance to gain knowledge of the business side of Home Healthcare, and what it takes to run an individual office of a very large company... the business management side of things.

I had gotten interested in wine during college, but knew very little about it... just that I liked it. I did a couple of wine tastings here and there and slowly enjoyed it more and more by the glass, and not just during one sitting. As I continued to enjoy wine as a consumer post graduation, I started to gain an appreciation of where the wine was coming from and how it went from "vine to wine"... different Terroirs, growing practices, grape varietals etc. I had been bit by the bug, and my passion was snowballing. Then, in an almost "all of the sudden" fashion, I knew that I wanted to be involved in wine, especially in Vinticulture and Enology. After being unhappy for too long, I started applying for harvest intern and direct to consumer (tasting room) positions on craigslist and winejobs.com, and ended up getting the opportunity to work with Clos Lachance. I am beside myself with excitement at this time... definitely have never looked forward to 72hr work weeks this much. My goal is to work as hard as possible and for my brain to have "ShamWow" soaking powers for knowledge retention!

I decided to give my notice to the previous employer so that I could have some time off in between jobs, and with a month to myself, I decided to go on a road trip vacation up through the Pacific Northwest, which I will talk about a bit more in my next post.