As written to friends & family on April 28th, 2011:

“I’m alright – apart from the wet pants.” ~ Dom Maxwell, Head Winemaker

It’s about 9AM and our coworker Amy is already covered head to toe in Pinot Noir. Near constant dampness is just part of the job description. If, as we mentioned previously, winemaking is 90% cleaning, then expect to spend all of that time wet. Not even shuffling around all day in oversize boots and wet gear akin to a heavy duty hazmat suit will keep one dry. (The retained heat inside of the plastic shell is enough to create a rainforest-like interior with corresponding odor.)

However, there are several other creative ways to maintain one’s personal dampness. The simplest method is rinsing a bucket with a high powered hose to send backsplash into one’s face or boots. If you can’t be bothered to douse yourself, walk by a coworker on the back pad, rinsing the destemmer, sorting table or press. If you’re lucky, they just might aim the hose directly at you. If colored moisture is more your thing, stomping down thick-skinned, whole cluster grapes or thick fermentation caps is a great choice. In Amy’s case, opening a valve under high pressure is the fastest method of achieving an overall sense of purple damp. Jesse has also found one of the more creative ways of maintaining personal moisture, by spilling lees – or the leftover yeast cells after a fermentation – down her backside. When you can’t decide on a liquid, shoveling out a fermenter then rinsing the interior, is a great combination of both wine and water damp.

As an actual update, the harvest has been in full swing since our last email, which would explain the relatively long gap in between. When fruit comes in, it’s akin to a fire alarm being rung at the station. The bins must be pulled off the trucks, weighed, and then, depending on the varietal, sorted or tipped. The red grapes; Syrah, Pinotage and Pinot Noir are gently raked from the bin into the hopper of the sorting table, where we remove unripe bunches, leaves, etc. From the table, they fall through the destemmer into a fermenter. The white grapes; Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay, are tipped into the hopper of a waiting press. When the juice has been pressed, it is pumped to a steel tank to settle. Just remember to wash everything in between.

Finally, we’ll include a couple of photos to show that we’re still working the best job in the world!

As Luke & Jesse wrote on the 6th of April, 2011 to Friends & Family:

The Grapes Have Landed

The grapes have finally come in, and we have learned that winemaking is really all about forklifting. Lift the bins off the vineyard manager’s trailer, put them on the scale, lift them over the sorting table, lift and dump the destemmed grapes into the 5-ton open top fermenters that are about as tall as a two-story building. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

We’ve learned that winemaking is also about breaking things. We held a funeral service & wake for the tractor, an ancient International that no one could put a date of manufacture on. There was an entire barrel of caustic that went spraying into the heavens. (Caustic is short for caustic soda, i.e. lye which is used to clean stainless steel, among other things.) Innumerable bins have broken free in midair launching themselves haplessly into hoppers, sorting tables and fermenters. Then there was the winery door that Luke attempted to heighten with a not quite descended forklift mast.

That being said, cellar work isn’t quite as safe as our old desk jobs. However, there are less beer breaks in front of a computer. And the constant tasting of the berries, fermenting juice, and almost wines keeps the blood sugar up a little better than Folger’s coffee. So, there are some perks. But let anyone who is thinking of doing a harvest somewhere be warned: winemaking is 90% cleaning, 5% winemaking and 5% selling the final product. If you can get past that, this is the best job in the world.

Until next time: caustic, rinse, citric, rinse, repeat.

Jesse & Luke

Another update from the sent mail of our outboxes on March 30th, 2011:

To answer everyone’s biggest, burning question, the Waipara Valley in
Canterbury on the South Island of New Zealand doesn’t look much like
the “Lord of the Rings” movies; although it does look somewhat like
Hobbiton at the beginning of the first film. Rolling hills of grass
cut by sheep paths shadowed by short mountain ranges surround us while
we work away in our winery.

In our first week, we were already extremely busy. The day we went to
work for Greystone we found out that they had just purchased the
winery directly next door called Muddy Water. In preparation for
making two labels at full production, the winery has had to bring in
new 5 ton fermentation tanks, new holding tanks, barrel racks, barrels
etc. All of this extra work isn’t something most winemakers would
want to do before the busiest season of the year for wine, but it has
been welcome as rain delayed harvesting for three days. Grapes swell
with water during and after a rain which would dilute their juice
making them less desirable for wine production; so, until they lose
some of that water weight, we wait. In the meantime, we expanded our
skill sets; learning how to operate pumps, scissor lifts, fork lifts
and ancient tractors.

Because grapes weren’t coming in, we were able to take last weekend
off and drive up the Eastern coast of the South Island to Marlborough
to go wine tasting. In the USA, most think New Zealand’s South Island
wines are predominantly Sauvignon Blanc with a little Pinot Noir and
Chardonnay tossed into the mix. In Marlborough, we were pleasantly
surprised to find a lot of fantastic Pinot Gris production. If you
can find a New Zealand Pinot Gris, buy it and drink it with a light
salad tossed with a fruity dressing.

Now, the grapes have since begun to come in and we have been working
long hours. Pinot has been through our sorting table, and Sauvignon
Blanc through the press. We are learning additional challenges
switching from conventional to organic and back. Luke began this email
and Jesse is finishing it, but we both have to run; a trailer full of
organic Pinot bins just pulled up.

We filmed our response to the first day of work, still severely jetlagged, as well as a brief tutorial on the challenging task of sulphuring barrels. Please enjoy!
Click Here to View Video

From Luke’s email to friends & family on March 20th, 2011:

Jesse and Luke landed in Christchurch which recently was in
international news because of a rather large earthquake they had. We
haven’t seen any of the damage that happened but know that it is fresh
on the minds of all who live here. The wine region we are living and
working in is about a 40 minute drive to Christchurch and is quite
removed from any kind of city life or living that one might be
familiar with. Most Americans aren’t that familiar with this small
region called, Waipara Valley, but the wines are fantastic and have a
taste much different than those of Marlborough.

The house we are staying in is 10KM up a winding mountain road. No
internet access, TV, radio stations or even really neighbors (with the
exception of thousands of sheep.) Sheep are a huge part of the
countryside all over the island but surprisingly finding lamb in a
grocery store is somewhat difficult and expensive. The hipsters have
two pretty hip German roommates who will be joining us during harvest.
Both come from family owned wineries in Germany, one from the Pfalz
and one from the Mosel Valley. Both are trying to have wine shipped
to the South Island so the staff of Greystone and Hipster Enology can
taste through a few of their selections (the winery in the Pfalz sells
something like 40 different wines!)

Greystone just purchased another well known winery called Muddy Water.
This means that the total production will be quite a bit higher this
year coming in at around 350 tons of grapes. Tuesday, March 22nd,
will mark the first day grapes are coming in if all goes according to
plan. Weather is, of course, not something anyone can control and
plays a pretty large role in deciding whether or not grapes should be
picked. Assuming grapes come in, 5 hectares (about 12.5 acres) of
pinot noir will be handpicked in the morning and we can get started
hand sorting before crushing.

The weather did not cooperate, but it has given us more time to help set up & prepare the winery.
Click Here to View Video