CellarGirl Averts Snow Closure
I'm thanking my lucky stars. Sunday when I was driving back from Seattle on Snoqualmie Pass, I was just ahead of a snowstorm that closed I-90 for four hours. The Washington State Dept of Transportation closed the pass around 3pm and didn't reopen until 7pm. I was driving on the pass around 1pm just as the snow was falling. I have video of the road conditions where I point my camera out on the green trees and then the next minute the trees are covered in snow. Yikes! That would have sucked! Especially with Prensa in the car with me. My poor Chihuahua would not like that.

Oyster Frenzy at Flying Fish Restaurant
Yours truly poured for thirsty Sauvignon Blanc fans at the Oyster Frenzy at Flying Fish Restaurant this weekend. For those not familliar, Flying Fish is in Seattle's Belltown area. Here I am posing with the Oyster Lady. I had so much fun working this event. I even had time to taste a dozen or so oysters. I really love the Hama Hama and West Vancouver oysters. Blowing kisses to Jeff for the continuous stream of oysters! This is a very popular annual event (4th year in a row!) and indeed there was a line around the block before the doors even opened. I think at it's peak there were a few hundred rabid oyster fans filling the event rooms. I met a lot of Chinook wine fans and I think made a few new ones. We talked about wine and oysters, oysters and wine. Is there anything better in the world? Thank goodness I had a wingman, my friend Jeannine. She worked the event with me which was a godsend especially when things got very busy. She also had a chance to sample all the delicious array of oysters. I had a few nice surprises. I had a few long time friends show up at the event and we had some time to catch up afterwards. My friend S works for NOAA and vouched for the ocean's water quality and a great season to eat oysters. Nice to know someone with the inside scoop. I will definitely be back for this event whether to work or be one of the frenzied fans.

I watched the sunrise this morning over the Horse Heaven Hills. 37F outside. I stood on my porch with a cup of steaming hot coffee in hand. It was an early morning gray sky dotted with small high clouds streaked with brilliant orange red hues melting into them. I could hear the train chugging across the tracks in the distance. However, once the train passed, there was stillness so precious. It was broken only by the flutterings of birds taking flight from the vineyard. It was beautiful to watch the first rays of light tenderly caress each cloud and warm the dawn. I needed time to reflect on my experiences in the last few weeks. My time here is coming to an end and it will be met with as much anxiety as I had begun. I'm thankful for my incredible experience, especially all the hands-on winemaking and mentorship that K graciously shared with me. But leaving my new friends and adopted family here pulls on my heartstrings. I am leaving here with many rich and multilayered memories. It's been a time of transition in so many ways and the change of season from late fall to early winter is fitting. This sunrise was a beautiful reminder to me of what new and brilliant experiences await me. That light and beauty is just beyond cold and dark.

Washington Wine Facts

Washington State is ranked second nationally in wine production - more than doubled in the last 10 years.
"Yeah! We're number two! We're number two!"
Wine grape growers - more than 300
Number of state wineries - more than 260
Impact of state economy - more than 2.4 Billion annually
Employs over 11,000 people.
Production is growing with current figures at 4.9 million cases or 579.9 million retail value
Red to White wine grape ration is 57% Red to 43% White
Leading Reds: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Sangiovese
Leading Whites: Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Viognier
Washington was honored as "Wine Region of the Year" by Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2001.

(courtesy of Washington Wine Commission

Boy, that really tickles the nose, doesn't it?

I had a little excitement and danger yesterday. I almost fell into the fermenting tote. You see, things are really cranking at the crushpad. We have about 8 totes of fermenting reds (Merlot and Cab Franc). All of them need daily punchdowns and testing. As usual, I was using the step ladder to maneuver around the totes for punchdown. I can do this without the step ladder, but not having the upper body strength of "Muscles" it's easier to leverage the strength I have from a higher vantage point. After punching down three in a row, I was slightly out of breath and teetering on top of the ladder. This was my first clue to take a break. But I'm all about efficiency(mixed in with a healthy dose of stubbornness). Looking around and seeing how many more I had to punchdown, I thought I could shortcut and punchdown the far side from where I was without moving my step ladder. As expected, I overreached, but then plunged the punchdown right into the middle.....luckily, I caught myself on the "pogo" but my face sort of hovered over the top of the must and I found myself staring at beautiful red grape juice and skins just inches from my face. Well, the CO2 coming off these babies shot right up my nose made me pop upright. Whoa Nelly! If you've had sushi you may be familliar with the sensation. It feels like taking a bite of sushi loaded with super strength wasabi. Eyes watering, sinus clearing shot right up your nose. It's a tickle hurt. Painful tickle? Not pleasant, is what I'm trying to say here. The CO2 is actually something you do have to be careful about. We call them "hot" tanks and fermentations. We don't ever have to go into a closed container, but when you are working around these things, you have to be careful. There are OSHA rules for working with closed containers because you can literally knock out and die if you fall into one where CO2 has pooled. C told me about a few tragic cautionary tales that happened back in the 80s. Sad stories of workers who went into a stainless steel tank to clean it out but were knocked out by invisible CO2 gases and were killed instantly. In some cases, another worker would go in after the first one and they would both die. Not something to take lightly. This is why there are all kinds of rules about working around closed containers. Here, I don't ever have to worry about that since we do not ever need to go into a closed container.

Some photos from my recent trek to Walla Walla area wineries






Sunbreak
There's a charming local lore I heard from K. She told me about a local winegrape grower (who shall remain nameless) drinks very cheap tequila and does a naked dance in the moonlight to make the rain go away. I wonder if he did that yesterday. Maybe it was my own rant or chant? Whatever happened, the clouds parted and the blues skies and sunshine smiled down at us today. It was a beautiful crush day. Just as we were crushing the last pallet of Merlot grapes, the sun which was teasing us all morning with bits of sunbreak, finally came out full strength and drenched us in a warm sunny bath. It almost feels like summer again. Warm weather makes all the wet work of cleaning and rinsing everything down more tolerable. dare I say, fun? No grumpies today. Since I have a few more hours of sunny daylight left, I'm going to venture out and visit some of the neighbors.

Rain, rain go away!

I knew it wouldn't last. Summer's last reach tried desparately to hang on, but lost it's battle to the Fall's rain. We've had a few days of miserable rain which makes for "not so much fun" crush days. But we drive on and keep going. The rain has delayed some of the merlot. Luckily we're through the cab franc. Today was spent racking juice off lees to barrels to ready the tanks for more juice. The estate cab franc is coming along nicely and we'll be ready to press off and rack to tanks tomorrow.

I shouldn't complain too much about the weather. There have been a few sunny spots. But unlike last month, the sunny days are not accompanied by the warmth of the summer sun. Rather, it's been cold and windy. Well, must get back to work....

Finally, here come the Reds

Hurray! We're halfway there. Now, that most of the whites have come in and have been pressed off. We're starting to see the reds. These are the totes of Merlot we crushed last week. Anyone who thinks they are going to retire and own a winery (are you crazy?) better make sure they hire some strong, young, fit people to work for them. Winemaking is a physical job. The advantage for reds is the crush day is shorter. We sort, crush and destem. There's no press action that day. That means there's less equipment to clean. Yeah! But wait, here's the catch: You think to yourself that it's going to be easier, but actually, you trade off for another job. That job is "punch down." Every day, we punch down the reds once or twice a day. For the Merlot, we've been punching down once a day. The first day is a killer. Thank God Colin aka "the muscle" got first round. If I didn't mention it before, Colin, the nephew and young college grad is doing most of the heavy lifting around here. It's fitting since he's the one in his early 20s and has all the energy. Punching down involves using this apparatus that is like a stainless steel pogo stick, except there's a flat disk at the end. You put this on top of the cap which can be a few feet thick of the wine berries floating on top of the juice. Being a petite person, I have my challenges. But it's nothing that a step ladder couldn't fix. So, imagine little me holding this apparatus over the cap and pushing down with all my might. I'm sure it's kinda funny when you're the one watching. I say, "really, I'm pushing down with everything I've got!" So, I bounce up and down until I get the momentum to breakthrough this thick cap. I could probably stand on it. Snow shoes would be more effective. The first punch down is always the hardest. Once you breakthrough the cap, it gets easier to punch down the rest. You want to push down all the berries, grapeskins down so it mixes with the rest of the juice. You end up with a frothy, aromatic mix. It's quite a workout on your arms and shoulders. K & I say a little cheer and throw the yeast and mix it in. We punch down for 5-7 days taking temperature readings and measuring the brix. I carefully record everything on note cards taped to the side of the totes. I take note of the brix levels going down as the sugar gets converted into alcohol. Once, you're down to 10 brix or less, it's time to press off and rack into the tank. Today, we pressed off this wonderful juice and racked into the tank. It's a good thing too because we need to make room for the estate grown Cabernet Franc we picked over the weekend. That's another story.....

Cheers,
CellarGirl

Harvest is in Full Swing

What can I say? It's harvest time! My apologies for not having posted in more than a few days. Well meaning intentions to post have been superceded by my need to eat then sleep. Seems I barely have time to brush my teeth and rinse off the grape juice from my hair before collapsing in my bed. But that's a little more than you needed to know, right? Well, this is the life of a wine apprentice. You learn to live with some stickygoo in your hair and you stop inspecting your hands and fingernails which are often stained purple from punching down reds. You learn to live in your rubber work boots and you don't mind getting splashed or soaked with hot or cold water depending on what you're rinsing and cleaning. What do I mean by "long days"......most days start at 8am to clean, rinse and prepare the equipment before sorting, crushing, destemming and then pressing. We work non-stop until all the grapes have been handsorted which usually means we work through lunch until about 1:30pm. By then, Kay has prepared a delicious fresh lunch for us of freshly baked bread, tomato salad and various artisanal cheeses. We might spend a few minutes playing with the dogs or catching up on the local paper before turning back to the work at hand. The pressing cycle can take a few hours depending on how many totes of grape must we have to press. While that's going on, we clean, rinse and repeat each piece of equipment which means we end our days past 8pm at night. If we're not too tired or sick of each other, we might go out to eat or grill up some chicken or fish on the BBQ. The nice thing is we are all getting into a nice routine with each other and getting a sense of how we all like to work. It doesn't really feel like work. I feel like I'm part of a "family" who enjoys what they do and takes pride in the quality of what is produced. There are no shortcuts here and we're obsessively clean with our environment. Working in a winery, you are very aware of smells, off-smells and the things that cause them. We're talking microbiology, bacteria and such. Being obsessively clean, minimizes exposure and keeps the "fruities" or fruit flies away. I have a lot of respect for the way K & C keep things clean here. I've gone to a few wineries in the valley that have lesser standards. It's not a pretty sight.



More later,
CellarGirl