New Weight Loss Program

Found a new weight loss program – it’s called “Working at Crushpad!!!”

The summer program is Harvest and you get a 12 hour workout starting at 6am. The winter program is No Heat and you shiver pounds away.

At Crushpad, wine is our asset. We need to do all we can to keep our asset in tact. And that means, keeping the winery around 60, if not less.

So, during this cold spell in San Francisco (it was 40F this morning when I drove to work…I know, I know, LA has that, and my mid-west & east coast friends are rolling their eyes cuz that would be a heat wave for them), we don’t turn on heaters. Actually, I don’t think we even have a central heating system. So, I’m sitting at my computer in a t-shirt, a turtle neck, a scarf, and a down jacket, and I’m about comfortable. Feet are a little chilly, but body is warm. Had a wild hair and took the jacket off for a few minutes…not a good idea.

Every morning, I go to the winery (separate area from our office), and they don’t get much natural light (no sun warmth), and they definitely don’t have heating. As a matter of fact, they had the loading dock doors open, so we get a nice cold breeze coming in. It’s gotta be in the 50s in that building. One of the guys wore flannel PJ bottoms under his jeans today - LOL. Again, great for wine…not so great for people.

The best part is when I do product shots (yes, I’m the staff photographer) and I turn the lamp on. Yea, nice, warm glow of fake light to warm me up.

It's so damn cold that I had to move my garage rose' into my bedroom. Yea, too cold for the wine - have you ever heard of such a thing??? I gotta warm it up a bit, so it doesn't stall the fermentation. So, I have a 5 gallon carboy of pinot noir rose in my room - who woulda thought??

See you in LA over the holidays….hoping for warmer weather.

Cheers - Linda

Winter is Here

The city is beautiful now – clear skies, crisp sunny days and chilly nights. It’s gorgeous – as long as I’m in the sun…but once I cross into the shade, everything becomes instantly colder…like, add another layer colder. Even the cement feels harder. Not complaining…just telling you how I feel.

My garage rose’ experiment is definitely an experiment. My pinot is more like pinot water…almost clear with a slight touch of pink…would look better as a champagne than a rose'...nowhere near where a rose’ should be. My syrah rose’ has better color, but it’s not as crisp as I’d like it to be. They both taste a little like plastic to me…the lab manager says they smell like candy bananas (like Laffy Taffy) to her. Silly me, I was kinda hoping they would smell like wine.

I’ll have to wait and see what happens – they say it’s in its dumb adolescent stage, while going through malolactic fermentation…that’s when the malic acid turns to lactic acid, which softens up the mouthfeel. So, instead of dumping it down the drain, I’ll hang in there to see if it will taste & look like wine in the near future.

Took a trip to Roseville (NE of Sacramento) for Thanksgiving. Lots of fall colors up there – golden yellow, amber, burnt orange, cranberry red…all the colors we don’t get to see in LA or San Francisco. Then, went wine tasting in Placerville & Plymouth in the Sierra foothills – beautiful area, with even more fall colors. Fields of amber colored grape vines combined with end of day light made for a gorgeous photo opp!

I’ll be in LA for Christmas – hope to see some of you then!

Cheers - Linda

HARVEST IS ALMOST OVER

Say it isn’t so!!!! Believe it or not, we only have 40 more tons of grapes coming in. Sound like a lot? Well, we’ve had about 300 tons so far. Harvest, in terms of grape sorting will be over in a week – boo hoo.

After the final grapes arrive, everything will be in barrels 2, maybe 3 weeks later. Then harvest will definitely be over. No more 6am punchdowns, no more grape sorting, no more shaker tables for the darn cab sauv grapes, no more sniffing carbon dioxide, no more tasting wine at various stages of fermentation, no more rock hard arms!!!!!

Deep in the crevasses and calluses, my hands are stained purple. My teeth are purple too, but that goes away a lot faster!!! I’m sure I’ve touched many of the 750+ new barrels of wine we have aging.

My internship is half way over – time definitely flies when you’re having fun…and waking up at 5am and going to bed at 9pm.

I’m trying my hand at making Rose’ in the garage…actually 2 batches – one pinot noir and a syrah. Let’s see if I can keep them from turning into vinegar. I’m tempted to turn part of my garage in LA into a cold room….hmmmm, something to think about.

Not sure if I did the video thing correctly...oh well...

Cin cin,

Linda

Summer is Over Already???

It went from maybe two weeks of beautiful, clear sunny days in the 70s to dark, cloudy days of pouring rain in the 50s…oh yea, add wind to that, so the rain is sideways. Forget the cheapy collapsible umbrella in my trunk – it turned inside out while I was still trying to open it. I’m still wet from walking ½ a block and it’s after noon.

Whatever, guess it’s raining in LA too, but they’ll get back to the 70s in a matter of days.

I’ve eaten more grapes than you can imagine. I taste everything that comes in – cabernet sauvignon, syrah, chardonnay, pinot noir, viognier, and so forth. The fruit & seeds are usually small & intense. Very sweet.

My hands are still purple, and so are my teeth. I love that friends are tuning into our Crushcams – you know who you are – thank you for watching & chatting!!! For those of you who haven’t checked it out, we’re at http://www.crushpadwine.com/ccam. You can request control of the camera and move it around.

My rotation in the winery is extremely tiring work. Gotta hand it to the guys who do it every day, 6 days a week. Thanks to Andy Popinski who visited & worked 4 days in a row – at least one of my friends can appreciate and understand how & why I’m so exhausted. First time in my life… I heard Andy say “I’m tired”.

My grapes are now in the early stages of wine. In only 1 week, they went from a 1 ton bin doing their fermenting thing & being punched down every day to having all the liquid pressed out of them. The wine (yes, it has alcohol at this point) is now in a barrel with my name on it and the aging process has begun.

Every couple of days, I remove the bung (the stopper) and smell the liquid. It smells like wet oak and is making bubble noises, kind of like an open bottle of soda. My barrel is 3 rows up on a rack, so I climb up the rack like a monkey, cause it’s too narrow for a ladder to fit.

The benefits of this job? My arms are pumped and rock solid. I went golfing (no, I’m not a golfer) in Palm Springs over the weekend for a friend’s bday, and I drove the bar farther than I ever have before. And, my fairway shots were the longest I’ve had as well. I’ll have to figure out a way to keep it up after harvest is over, cause I’m loving this arm workout.

I’m in the winery 10/14-16 and 10/21 from 6a-6p, so tune in an watch & chat. If you can’t see me, post a question asking if I’m there and they’ll answer or get my attention.

Cheers - Linda

GRAPES ARE COMING IN!!!!

YAY - my grapes are arriving on Monday...

My cabernet sauvignon grapes from Rafael vineyard in Napa Valley will arrive and we'll sort them on Monday as well. The winemaking begins!!!!!!

This has been my first week of working my harvest rotation. Yes, that would be 6am-6pm, Mon-Sat. Doesn't sound that long, compared to some of those old Countrywide days, but it's all physical work, so I'm tired.

I've been doing alot of punchdowns - stirring grapes & juice in a 1 ton bin. Some are easy, and the ones that have started fermenting are harder because they have a thick "cap". We punch the cap down into the liquid below and stir it up. On Tuesday, I did 6am, 10am, noon, and 2pm punchdowns - WHEW!!!! The 6am ones take the longest because we do ALL of them, which usually takes about 3 hours. I counted over 60 bins on the floor today - and the # keeps growing.

Luckily we don't do them all every time, otherwise it would never end. The good thing is that my arms are solid as a rock!

I've also been sorting grapes....bye bye manicures, at least for now. They're on a conveyer belt and we pick out leaves, stems, rotten grapes, or whatever else looks funky that we don't want in wine.

At the end of the day, my clothes are good & sticky, I have grape juice splattered on me, my hands have a purple hue, I have grape skins under what remains of my nails, and I've eaten everything in sight. You think I eat alot normally, you should see me now...oink, oink.

Pics to come later....too tired to load them.

Your friend, the winemaker,

LInda

HARVEST IS HERE!!!!

Yes, grapes are starting to come in!!!!! We’ve had some Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, and Sauvignon Blanc. Don’t ask me from where…I can’t remember all the vineyards.

This is when the good & sticky fun starts. A half ton bin of grapes is hoisted into the air via forklift, then periodically raked out of the bin with a huge plastic rake, where clusters of luscious grapes fall onto a conveyer belt. About 6 people stand around the belt and remove leaves and rotten clusters. The grapes fall below into a press or into a machine that removes the stems, depending on the type of grape.

The lucky people on the conveyer belt get their hands and clothes very sticky from sorting, de-stemming, and picking through the grapes. If the grapes come too fast, we don’t shove them down our blouse like Lucy, we shove them back down the line with our arms….yes, grape juice all over your arms & hands.

It’s great fun!!! Anybody want to join in the madness??? Give me a shout – we’ll be doing this through end of Oct/early Nov. Friends were in town from Dallas and they got their hands nice & sticky in beautiful, tasty Pinot Noir grapes. Yes, we tasted them too – YUM!!!

As a lucky intern, I get to work 12 hours a day for 6 days straight, every 3^rd week. They wanted to give us the “full experience”. So, I need to select some shoes, pants & shirts that I don’t care about because they will probably get ruined.

I still love this job!!!!

Cheers - Linda

Busy - Busy - Busy

Wow, having too much fun to write. I don’t know how writers stay disciplined to write….definitely could not crank out an article every day.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks –

Paso Robles for some wakeboarding and wine drinking. I’ve stopped calling it “tasting” when I go to Paso because we end up drinking fantastic wine with dinner. It was great to hang with the Franks and the rest of the Naci crew. Was nice to be amongst friends….although I’m busy in SF, don’t have any peeps that I hang with yet.

Did you know that you can tell a cluster of grapes is a chardonnay grape by the shape of the cluster. The cluster looks like it has shoulders – kind of like little clumps to the right & left of the main cluster. Definitely learning interesting facts up here.

Went to Napa on Saturday to meet with another friend from LA. Hadn’t been to Napa in over 5 years – they sure have added a lot of hotels/retail space. More crowded than ever. We went to Viader Vineyards in the Howell Mtn area, 1200 feet above the Napa Valley floor. They had great wines and killer views of the valley. Also went to Alpha Omega, Frogs Leap and Sequoia Grove. My fav – Viader for the killer cab franc deal (case at half price) and views.

I’ve learned NOT to trust my GPS. It pays to get directions on Mapquest or at least look at a map to get a general idea of how I want to get to/from a destination. My GPS took me WAY OUT OF THE WAY to get from Napa back to the city. Why was it thinking that I wanted to go east, down and over the Bay Bridge to get to the city. OMG….that was almost a 2 hour drive, when it only took me 1 hour to get there. Plus, the Bay Bridge was like waiting in TJ to cross the border. It was slower than the 405 at rush hour. GEEZ.

Going to Sonoma on Sat. I’ll be sure to map out my route before I get on the road!!!

Ciao - Linda

Learning New Tricks

I am learning new things every day, such as….

How to not lock myself out of the house when going into the backyard. Yea…got locked out with the owner…and she thought she unlocked the door. She couldn’t find the hideakey, so she showed me how to get in without having to squeeze through the doggie door….good thing - haven’t had to pull that trick since college.

How to roll an empty wine barrel that weighs as much as I do, if not more.

How to take wine samples from barrels without contaminating the wine. Can go do barrel tastings any time I want. Did I forget to tell you lately that I LOVE THIS GIG!!!

How high school chemistry could have been so much cooler…and maybe I would have gotten a better grade…if I knew it involved wine. Learned how to run tests for sugar, ph, acidity, alcohol, etc.

How to test for CO2…basically fill a thingy (my technical term), put another thingy with a spout on it, cover the spout and shake the hell out of it. Put a beaker over the spout, take your finger off and let it spurt out. (Like shaking a coke bottle and letting it spray out) Repeat until it no longer spurts. Measure b4 and after.

How to have fun in the cold room…tasted about 8 Napa cabs from 2008 barrel samples. Am trying to select which type of wine to make and from which vineyard. Will taste Pinot Noir later this week….did I tell you I LOVE THIS GIG!!!

Ciao - Linda

Eating my way through my new 'hood

I've discovered one of the restaurant sections near my place and can't wait to try most of them. Within a few blocks...yes, I walk there...I can find Italian, Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Mediterranean, Soul, Hot Pot, American/Hamburger, and a Mexican taqueria that only serves burritos & tacos. Forget about eating there, the counter holds 4-6 people...so I ate on the bench outside the place....was definitely craving Mexican food!!!

There are a couple family run, corner produce stands (the kind they don’t have in LA), a nail salon and a cheapy Chinese home goods store that came in handy to grab a few things for my new place...such as a pitcher for the ever important iced tea.

Also within walking distance are a few dry cleaners…although I don’t need them – no more business casual. I’m wearing jeans, tshirts and tennis shoes every day!!!

On Sunday, I drove to Monterey to spend time with my pal Barb Maloney, her husband and daughter. The weather was sunny, clear, and beautiful with a slight breeze. Borrowed shorts from Barb…who knew it would be so warm there. We hung by the pool with a bottle of wine and snacks – yea baby!!! Then walked along the pier, watched jellyfish & crabs near the docks, and had Italian for dinner…along with a piece of German chocolate cake. It was so huge that I’m still eating it.

Moving to the Richmond area this weekend

I found a place to live in the outer Richmond area...think almost NW part of SF, just south of the Presidio, and North of Golden Gate Park. Blocks from the beach....the cold beach. Oh, and parts of it are a nudist beach. Just imagine the surprise on my and my cousin Robert's face when he took me to Baker Beach, and as we're walking along, we see a man walking along...in the cold, strutting his stuff. Classic SF!

I'm on California St. near 28th Avenue, near Seacliff, which is where there are ritzy houses on the cliff. Not sure that's a good idea in earthquake territory.

I'm renting a room from a woman, who lives in the house she grew up in. Cute, cozy place. Yes, cozy means small, quaint, funky room spaces. She has a backyard...well, a deck, but at least she has an outdoor space and it has fruit trees, a tomato plant and flowers. AND, she has a chocolate lab named Max.

It was a beautiful day in SF today - probably in the 60s, but the sun was out, so it was nice and warm. Think I'm preferring that right now compared to warm Burbank, where I landed an hour ago. I'm sure tomorrow when I'm working on my house in the heat of the valley, that I'll be wishing for the cool SF temps.

Great day in SF

It's been a bit too cold (think 55 in the morn - BRRR), breezy and foggy for this So Cal gal whose only been in San Francisco for a week. FINALLY, the sun came out today and although it was only mid-60s, it was beautiful today...and I was able to walk around without my jacket - whoo hoo!

Not sure why I left the sun and drove towards the partially cloudy ocean, but the sound of the waves were calling me. Although I didn't get to do 8 sets of the Santa Monica stairs with my friend DJ in LA, I went for a hike in Pacifica along the beach, and up and over some hill that gave me a gorgeous view of the coastline. Even saw a couple seals or sea lions playing in the surf - just look for their black helmet heads.

Looking forward to work tomorrow...haven't said that phrase in a long time. Always fun to learn more about the wine industry.