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