The funny thing about a new year is as much as it symbolizes grand change, the turning of leaves, the wiping away of all things bad from the past year, life baggage is life baggage. As much as you’d like to hurl it off a bus somewhere on a dark highway in Nicaragua, you’re stuck with it.
So, here’s the thing.
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Yesterday, Joe emailed me this article by Michael Lewis, a well known non-fiction writer (he wrote the famed Liar’s Poker). This was in the wake of us having a heart to heart about careers and jobs the evening before.
Though Joe and I are very similar in how we view many things, career isn’t necessarily one of them. I’m glad he saw Mr. Lewis’s article at work yesterday, so he could kinda see where I’m coming from. For all you mid-20 somethings out there totally at a loss over where your life is headed, this is a good (short) read : (more…)
Filed under: Career Woman, Just thinking..., The Word | 5 Comments »
That’s right, folks. Harvest — though it completely caught us all with our pants down, scampering for the bushes — is around half over. With hundreds of tons of grapes already processed in the first weeks of September (and most of that tonnage already turned into wine), picking has been ramping back up again and the winery is getting slammed with fruit deliveries. When I left work on Wednesday, around 10 tons (that’s 20 barrels, or 6000 bottles) of Cabernet had already been delivered. As I understood it, a few more truckloads would arrive before nights end.
If that sounds like a lot to process in a day or two, consider that the first week and a half of September — you know, when the pants were around the ankles — we received 225 tons worth of grapes. THAT’S A LOT OF GRAPE JUICE. And have I mentioned we make 900 DIFFERENT wines? And that those 225 tons were about a THIRD of the total tonnage we’ll receive?
Anyway, with harvest back in full swing again, CrushCamps are back too, and I’ve found great joy in teaching other people about winemaking. Folks show up so bright eyed and bushy tailed, truly interested in what we do and more than willing to ask lots of questions, and that’s awesome. I love hearing people say that they had a great time and learned a whole lot, and better yet, that they can’t wait to come back and get more involved with wine.
For me, too, the learning curve there has just been exponential, and as I come home and report my days to Joe, I can’t even believe how much knowledge I’ve had to stuff into my brain over the course of a month. If you ever need someone to explain cap management to you, I’m your gal. (more…)
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Nothing could be quite so precarious as climbing up stacks of barrels, each filled with a half ton of wine, for the sole purpose of measuring their Brix and temperature, until you begin to think to yourself, “Well, shit, if The Big One hits San Francisco right now, we’re totally effed.”
As in, pray you can jump from the top of the barrel mountain without spraining your ankle or breaking your leg, then running thirty or forty meters out of the room in the vain hope of making it to the exit door without other barrels or boxes or T-bins or steel fermenting vats falling on your pretty little head.
In order to find this picture, I Google image-ed “barrel stacks,” and found this photo on a UC Berkeley website detailing a study that showcased the disastrous effects an earthquake could have on the wine industry. Let’s all note the photo of the barrels post shaking, shall we?: (more…)
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Finally, Friday. I’m not gonna lie, I’m pooped. It’s been the busiest week I’ve had in a while, and for the first time in months I have that feeling of, “Geez, I sure have a lot on my to-do list, and I haven’t the foggiest idea of how I’m going to get it all done.”
I only worked a half day at Crushpad today, mostly setting up and then taking part in our first Crush Camp. We had two clients come through, which is abnormally small, but fun since you get so much interaction with them that way. And clients are always such a great revitalizer — just when you think you’re totally pooped out, they show up so bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to talk, taste, and make wine. It’s awesome. And the community Crushpad has created is incredible. I love that people can show up from all over the world, but are buddies in minutes because of their common interest in fermented grape juice.
I’m cutting this post a bit short, as I just scarfed down a late lunch and need to hit the showers and pack…I’m headed to LA for the weekend to tailgate and see the USC – OSU game. And what would a trip to LA be without a dinner at El Cholo? Oh, the many nights I spent at El Cholo as an undergraduate…but I’ll save those stories for another post.
Reader, have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you right back here on Monday.
Filed under: Career Woman, Crushpad, Travels, Wine | Leave a Comment »
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