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.