The Interns
A Rite of Passage for A Wino
September
Week 4 Continued
Week 4 Continued
Monday
September 26th 2016
It has been madness at the winery! There is lots to crush and ferment, which means late nights!
This week the winery is filled with interns; staff from the tasting room pay the winery a visit during harvest to get a good idea about how things work when it comes to the winemaking process. Everyone here is loving the extra help with punch downs and pump overs.
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| Petite Sirah Cluster This cluster of Petite Sirah looks petite indeed, but the amount of tons we brought in were not! Today we crushed about 10 tons, and we are still not finished yet! Next week we will be bringing in the rest of these cute berries that give me so much pain...in my back...to be exact. |
After destemming, the Petite Sirah is going into 3 new open top tanks.
After all that crushing and cleaning up, we ended up finishing well past sun down, but I luckily snapped a picture of the sun going down behind the Berryessa Gap.
Word around the cellar is that it takes a lot of beer and pizza to make great wine....or is it...to make it through harvest? Either way pizza and beer taste amazing after a long day at the winery.
Tuesday
September 27th 2016
There are so many reds fermenting right now that the co2 levels are quite high! The winery doors must be opened in order to air everything out.
The winery is at full capacity!
The 3 open top tanks are full of Petite Sirah, I haven't inoculated the yeast at this point, but when I do the must will rise!
The amazing thing about getting on top of this tank is that the view! From up here it's amazing, but it also is a little nerve racking getting down each time.
This tank if full of Grenache, and must be pumped over twice a day until fermentation is almost over. We want to get a good skin to juice mixture, dissipate heat, and keep the cap wet so it doesn't attract unwanted microorganisms.
Peter laughed at me when I took this picture...
Me:What? I want to take a nice picture of me working =)
Peter: You are working?
haha Peter....>_<
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| Pumping over Grenache. Look at all that wine...or soon to be wine! Behold! the land of wine, and punch downs that have to take place before work is over. åŠ æ²¹ Peter åŠ æ²¹! |
Wednesday
September 28th 2016
With so many reds fermenting, taking density and temperature readings take up a big portion of the morning; while this is happening, bins are being punched down and tanks are being pumped over.
One of the rosés are finished and needs to be racked of its lees; the aromas coming from this tank are already amazing! Ripe ruby grapefruit, and perfumed red berries, this is a good sign.
Pumping over the Petite Sirah is a big job, we do each tank for about 20 minutes, twice a day.
One must be extra careful not to give someone below a wine bath...or more like juice bath, these tanks just started fermenting, so the must is still incredibly sweet and sticky.
Since I am wearing dark colors it is hard to tell, but unfortunately I got a wine bath today!
As Chris Turkovich would say, "rookie mistake!"
At the end of pumping over the 2,500 gallon tank of Tempranillo, I disconnected the hose attached to the tank and forgot the close the valve! Within seconds (about 3 since I was quick on my feet and shut the valve right away) wine was all over me and the floor! One must always be aware and pay close attention, because any little mistake can possibly have dire consequences. Luciana told me I will have bad karma for messing with her wine, but then forgave me and insured me that sometimes shit happens.
Thursday
September 29th 2016
Checking the daily brix and temperature readings, as soon as these bins are done they will be ready to be pressed, which means more room to bring in the rest of the fruit.
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| Dropping the hydrometer in, let's see if this must is almost ready. |
Saturday
October 1st 2016
Pumping over the Petite Sirah
The first to be pumped over is the whole cluster, the color extraction on this tank is lighter and still has its stems intact, this tank gives off aromas of ripe black berries and fresh herbs, but these wines still have a ways to go, the aromas in the finished product is still yet to be seen.
Pumping over the crushed Petite Sirah, the color on this tank is much darker than the whole cluster.
When we are smelling and tasting these wines we are looking for faults, and paying special attention to the mouth feel, this will help us to correct anything that may be wrong, and also give us a feeling if the tannins present in the wine now, can stand the test of time (or how they may be when going through the ageing process) So far they are pretty delicious, but need to go through malolactic fermentation and spend time in some nice and toasty barrels
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| Tasting our freshly pressed Yolo Cabernet Sauvignon |
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| The custom crush Syrah is pressed and ready to taste |
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