First Day

My alarm was supposed to go off at 4:30am. It didn’t. I knew I was going to be late for the first day of harvest. Just as I was getting up, our National Sales Manager Jayme Moffi (who was staying at the estate and had a flight to catch) shot me a text…”FYI, the power is off at the winery.” What?! I’m late and no power once I get there. Argh! This is not shaping up the way I had envisioned it.

I arrived at the East Pinot Blanc just before sunrise. It was beautiful outside. About 52 degrees with clear skies and a crew that was so positive and happy that I quickly forgot about the late start and the lack of electricity issue. The grapes were delicious…cool and snappy with tons of west dry creek goodness. We had one quick chat about fruit quality standards and the crew of 5 men and 5 women took off to pick this small block of Pinot Blanc. The crew must have been training for this moment because it was an Olympic best. The hammered out 5 tons in an hour and a half. One of our Italian tractors decided it needed a rest in the middle of the row with two full bins…it just wouldn’t start. No big drama. Adolfo and Javier Sr. were all over it. Within 5 minutes the tractor was on its way to the winery. Sr. and I joked about the way the morning was starting and how fun it is to face these challenges right off the bat. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Just then Javier’s phone rings. It’s Juan. He’s at the winery and the electric forklift is dead. Argh! We get the other forklift out and get the bins off the tractor and on to the scale. The fruit looks wonderful. No burn, no mildew, no bugs. Just greenish/yellow clusters stacked one on top of the other. Hand picked by people who care. Grown by the vineyardists who want to grow the very best fruit they can. Once it’s in the bin you can see all of this. And then you taste it…my god! Glorious!

The cellar crew was poised as was Wendy (because she gets there at 8am…nice Wendy!). Wendy rang the mission bell and we toasted the harvest with some sparkling and donuts that Tony had brought for the crew (Thanks Nature Boy). It was at this point that I realized that all these trials were just little speed bumps and that this crew (best ever?) can handle anything. We looked around and the electricity was back on…nice!

Tagged as: Dry Creek Valley, Michel Schlumberger, Mike Brunson, Pinot Blanc, Wine Grape Harvest