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.