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We're taking half the day off today-- the first day short
of 12 hours for us in three weeks.
The
last chardonnay press load went to tank yesterday afternoon,
while previously pressed and settled pinot gris and chardonnay
went to barrel. All pinot noir that has finished fermentation
is also in barrel.
The fermentation hall is beginning to look like a barrel room
again. At one end of the huge, open building are our 8-ton
pinot noir fermentors; at the other end is our barrel cellar.
With
the exception of this 6-week harvest period, the building
is essentially cellar. Now
we've begun building barrel stacks again. This is how we can
tell we've rounded the bend and are heading home, like the
mule team ploughing tobacco rows in my childhood, spying familiar
territory and a late sun, quickening its pace. (See how you
can connect almost any two things if you try hard enough!)
The crew is a smoothly working team, with prior experience
showing through and our processes pretty logical and streamlined.
--
Cheryl is the quintessential signal-caller on the floor,
communicating plans she and I have developed-- action-based
and taking crises in stride
-- Claire
is responsible for daily lab analysis and press/barrel work,
plus making tank additions
-- Brent
knows the place from being here in 1998, and drives the early-morning
activity (when the rest of us are dragging and caffeine-deprived),
focusing on cleaning and barrel work
-- Michael
is great on fork-lift (or "hoist" as they're call in New Zealand)
and is responsible for punchdowns/press and late-night work.
He arrives mid-morning but pays for it by having to return
at 11PM with Jim to punchdown
-- Jim
shuttles back-and-forth between Brick House and Chehalem,
working half-time at both places--here in the afternoon with
grape processing, press/punchdown, and nightwork including
data base work.
Of course,
like true teams, although we might lean towards certain tasks
we join in on all tasks as they become critical. And, also
like great teams, there is a famlily relationship of sorts,
built on sharing good humor, good communications and good
food. Oh yeah, wine too!
Harry
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