My first day

Today was my first day of work at C. Donatiello Winery in Healdsburg, CA. I arrived at 8am and the production crew of 6, now 7 with me, was seated at a table discussing today's activities. There are 2 shifts. One team arrives at 6:30am and begins doing the first set of 4 punchdowns that occurs each day. The second team arrives at 8am and begins working on the daily tasks, which is then shared with the first team, and varies from picking samples from the vineyard, doing juice analysis, and doing any "adds" that may be needed, among may other things.

So, first things first, as promised, here are some pictures of the grounds at C. Donatiello Winery. It is stunning and I am afraid these pictures don't really do it justice.




A quaint picnic area in front of the winery.


A side walkway up to the tasting room building seen in the upper left

Shortly after arriving I was paired up with Emily, another harvest intern, to run some samples to the lab and then head out to one of the vineyards to pick some grapes for sampling. We headed to Orsi Vineyard and got to work.


Picking a chardonnay sampling from Orsi Vineyard

Once we finished picking the sample we headed back to the winery to the lab to run the numbers to see if the grapes were ready for picking. The information was then recorded and provided to Web, the winemaker for C. Donatiello. We did various other tasks but unfortunately no fruit came in today. Northern California was hit with a late-season rain storm that will delay picking for a few more days. So, until then, we will work on what is already in tanks.

As for me, I am on the early shift tomorrow and will be at work at 6:30am. (Hmmm...sounds a lot like my schedule at home but I definitely like the scenery and my dress code A LOT better!!)