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.