Chardonnay day!

I know, I know...I came out here to make Pinot but yesterday, I helped make Chardonnay!

I had been in touch with Kathleen Inman of Inman Family Wines prior to coming out to California. She gave me a call over this past weekend to see if I might be able to head up to Sonoma Valley to help her with a Chardonnay project she was working on. "Sure, why not?" I though. (Thanks goes to Andrew for letting me get away from A.P. Vin for the day!!)
Kathleen and her husband Simon welcomed me into there home to stay with them on Monday night because we had a early start on Tuesday.
The day began at 6am as we drove to the vineyard to assist in the picking of the Chardonnay grapes. The lot was small so it didn't take long to pick before we headed back to the winery for pressing.


Chardonnay vineyard


Me, at work collecting grapes

Once at the winery, the grapes were weighed then loaded into the press.


Chardonnay grapes


Grapes being dropped into hopper of the press

From the hopper the grapes were dropped into the cylinder then pressed so the juice was extracted into the tray below.


Pressed juice

From the tray the juice was pumped through hoses into a tank to ferment and become the Chardonnay that we all know and love.


The pump and hoses


YUM!!! Fresh pressed Chardonnay juice

We finished up the day around 2:30 so I headed to Healdsburg to tool around and do some wine tasting. I visited J, Armida, and Everett Ridge. All were great in their own way. And, I got the best perk ever...an industry discount on my wine purchase!!! As if getting up and going to work in a winery everyday isn't enough to remind me I am really doing this, a get an discount on purchases at other wineries to boot!
We are hoping to get more fruit in at A. P. Vin early next week so until then, its going to be a bit of the same...punch downs, must analysis, and cleaning, and I'm loving every bit of it!

Sampling

A day in the vines...


Pinot Noir grape clusters

Saturday (9/20)
The day started at 7am with a long, winding, car ride up to the northern Sonoma Coast to check out the newest vineyard for A.P. Vin. Now, I have NEVER suffered from motion sickness but this drive got me. (Three of the 4 of us actually suffered so at least I wasn't alone!) The fog was still hanging low in the sky when we reached the coast and Hwy 1 which is beautiful but zig-zagging for about 2 hours was just too much. Needless to say we were all glad to reach the vineyard. The most exciting part though was walking through the rows of Pinot grapes and checking on their growth. It really is amazing to pick and eat grapes right off the vine to check their sweetness and acidity.



Checking out the grapes

We went through the vineyard and took random samples of each grape clone. Each cluster was placed in baggies to be brought back to the winery for analysis.


Andrew taking random sampling

Once the samples were picked it was time to get back in the car (reluctantly) for the long, winding, ride back. Fortunately we got to stop in Healdsburg for lunch along the way which is one of my favorite towns in California's wine country.

Sunday (9/21)
My day started at 5am as I had to take David back to the airport (despite my pleading to have him stay with me!) I didn't have to be at the winery until 10am so I went back to my temporary home-away-from-home and went back to bed. The weather was amazing with a slight breeze and temperature around 65 so I decided to ride my bike to work. Yes, I rode my bike to work! Never heard of for me in Houston!

At the winery we did analysis on the "must" (the juice, skins, and seeds) in the bins from our work on Thursday as well as the new grapes we picked up for sample from the Sonoma Coast vineyard. The grapes from the sample were crushed in the bag to extract the juice then poured into a cup. The pH and Brix levels (sugars) were tested on each one and recorded to assist in making the decision of when to pick the Sonoma Coast fruit and to check the progress of the others.

I'm taking a hiatus from the pinot world on Tuesday to head up to the valley to assist another winemaker as she brings in a load of Chardonnay. It will be interesting to see the differences in the process. So, more to come after that.

Day 1: Work begins

Well, after a slightly early departure from Houston due to Hurricane Ike and the lack of electricity, David and I arrived in San Francisco Tuesday night. Our early arrival was, however, perfect timing as I discovered that I was needed for work on Thursday morning. Grapes were ready and work needed to begin.

The day began at 7am, as Andrew, (the winemaker), Tim (another assistant) and I, left San Francisco and headed out to Keefer Vineyards in the Russian River Valley, approximately 1.5 hours northwest of SF. The crew at the vineyard started picking our fruit at 3am and when we arrived around 9am, we found our 8 bins, approximately 4 tons, of grapes waiting for us. We loaded them up in the truck and headed back to the winery.


Approx 1/2 ton of Pinot grapes

After prepping all of our equipment we loaded the first bin of Pinot Noir grapes in the lift and begin the process of sorting the fruit as it fell into the destemmer. I won't go into too many details of the full process but the goal of this step was to remove any undesirable grapes from the batch. We then ran the grapes through the destemmer which removed the stems and dropped the berries into a separate bin below.


The crew for the day: Tim, Shane, me and Andrew sorting the grapes into the destemmer.

It took about 7 hours to process all 8 bins and then the clean up process began. Everything in the winery needed to be cleaned and put away in preparation for our next round. (We source from 8 vineyards...this was only the first!)


Hosing down a screen

It was a LONG day. I got home around 10:30pm, took a shower to get all the sticky grape juice off of me and headed to bed exhausted but feeling extremely fulfilled to have my first "crush" behind me.

Tomorrow we head out to check on grapes at another vineyard located near Mendicino to determine when they will be ready for picking and processing.

More to come...

Hello!

Welcome to my blog site.

If you’re viewing this then you know me and you know I like wine. Yes, it's true. Every aspect of it! And, as you know, David and I have taken many trips over the years but some of our most memorable and absolute favorites have been to the Northern California wine country. (Phrase most often heard, "You're going back to Napa again???") We've visited at different times of year; spring, summer, and even winter but have yet to visit during the dreaded fall. Fall in the wine world of Northern California is a crazy time of year. That is when everything happens. Previous vintages are put in bottles, grapes are harvested in the vineyards and brought into wineries and the work of turning grapes into wine begins.

We've avoided this time of year by the suggestion of other "winos" that have warned, "Don't even think of going during harvest if you want to see anyone!" Everyone, except the lowly tasting room sales person, is busy with harvest. So, we've avoided it.

With each visit, we've met with different people at all involvement levels. Sales/marketing staff, tasting room personnel, winemakers, winery owners, etc. I've enjoy listening to each of them tell me their stories on how they got started, why they do what they do, and the excitement of harvest. On our trip in January I mentioned to David that I thought it would be so cool to visit during harvest and see it all happen, even joking about how I'd love to find a place that might actually let me work. So, after more discussions on whether I wanted to "see" it happen or actually "do" it, I made a few phone calls to some of the people we have met and lined up a "job" at a winery in California to be their cellar rat! I will be working at AP Vin which is actually located in San Francisco and is focused on producing Pinot Noir. The grapes come from Central Coast as well as Sonoma Coast so I’ll be doing a lot of traveling to check out the vineyards and hauling in the grapes, literally, as I've been told.

This site will be a way for me to keep you posted on my adventures as a cellar rat. I'll do my best to keep you all updated and I'll even try to post a pic or 2!

Cheers for now,
Kim a.k.a. "Wine Chick"