# Crush Day!!!!



## JohnT (Sep 22, 2015)

Last Saturday was crush. I know that I have said this for the last 3 years, but this was the best one EVER!!!! 

As usual, crush began weeks ago. I had to spend time maintaining and cleaning equipment, cleaning tanks, and attending to the boat load of details prior to crush that were on my checklist. 

On *Thursday*, people began to arrive. My SIL/BIL and Uncle (from Georgia), My nephew (from Virginia), and my good friends (from Florida) all came up. Thursday evening was spent on the checklist, getting things set up and also picking up some beer. 

This year, I wanted to protect my inventory of wine and also reduce the impact of hangovers. To this end, I stocked my keg-o-rator with Sierra Nevada IPA and also Stella Artois. This really seemed to do the trick. The Stella was a big hit.

*Friday* was grape pick up day. This involves picking up the rental truck and running about 35 miles to my supplier. I like to have folks come with me on this to keep me company and also to have them feel more of the whole experience. This year, seven of us ended up going.

It took about 3.5 hours to get loaded which is typical since I always need to wait for a loading bay. Once loaded, some of the folks went over to the Italian market across the street. Some went to the Hungarian Center of Meat about 10 minutes away. The rest of us hauled the grapes back to the winery.

** A note on my supplier.. My supplier is Corrado's. They absolutely out did themselves this year. They went above and beyond the call of duty and their prices were still lower than any other vendor in my area. As a person not at all affiliated with them, let me just say that if you live anywhere close to the NJ area you owe it to yourself to check them out!!! 

Once I got back to the house with the load of grapes, I continued working on completing my checklist and had it "done and dusted" by 2pm. This was the first time that I literally had nothing to do the night before crush. If you can believe this, I spent the evening worrying about not having anything to worry about. It just seemed like it was going all too smoothly. 

As a surprise, my friends that went to the Italian market came back loaded with all sorts of goodies. They informed me that they were taking over my kitchen and that dinner was being supplied by them. They ended up making up platters of meats and cheeses, tomatoes with 2 kinds of mutz, artichoke/spinach stuffed mushrooms, and home made pizza 4 ways! This was far better then my plan to order pizza. We all ate very well, and had a great time. I called the evening at 10pm so that everyone could get a good night's rest. 

*Saturday* was crush day. After struggling to get some sleep, I got up around 5:30, put on some coffee, enjoyed a cup, and watched the sun rise. There is nothing like having 30 minutes of peace and quite before things get active. 

After coffee, I started things off by filling my press with whole clusters of chardonnay. I decided to try out the whole-cluster technique that had worked so well on my past 2 Rieslings on this year's chardonnay. Just toss (into the press) the uncrushed, undestemmed, and otherwise unmolested grapes and apply steady, gentle pressure. This takes a long time (it takes pressure and time to make a gem). Getting this started early was best. 

Just as soon as I had the press loaded, latched, and dialed to 50 bars of pressure, the crew began showing up. I had them jump onto the sorting line in the truck and things moved very quickly. 

We had the grapes sorted, crushed, and dumped into the primary vats by 12:30. This was a new record. What is typical is to finish around 2 or 3pm. I again got that feeling that things were running to smoothly. 

What really sped us up was that some of the grape varietals were amazingly clean. I find that the grapes from California usually have leaves and other stuff that needs to be picked out. The old vine zinfandel and the ruby cab were so clean that they could go straight to the press. This REALLY cut down on the amount of time.

We had everything cleaned and rinsed down by 1pm. This is normally where we break for lunch. Getting people to the tables was hard in the past. Most folks simply do not want to stop. This year this was not a problem since we were all but finished. 

The food at crush is truly a group effort. Most everyone brings a dish. For lunch we had meatballs, sausage, European style ribs, perogies, shrimp/orzo salad, and veggie stew (just to name a few). As usual, my cousin Matt came with 2 kegs of his homebrew (simply wonderful).

After lunch, we gathered around the tent for some sipping, singing, and general good times. As is tradition, we inducted a new member of the purple foot club. We collected the orphan grapes (those few grapes that are rolling around in the bottom of a sorted lug) and have someone stomp them the old fashioned way. 

This year was my Aunt Kathy's turn. It was hysterical! Kudos to her for being such a good sport. 

Then came a nice surprise. My SIL, Mary, wrote a song for this year's crush. She is very talented and also classically trained. Everyone really enjoyed it and gave her much applause at the end. A recording of it is up on soundcloud. Here is the link if you want to give it a listen...

https://soundcloud.com/mary-gowing-1/heyhoherewego-by-mary-hill-gowing

For dinner, out came the more traditional Hungarian foods and we ate like royalty!! Goulash, Paprikas, and Lecho, just to name a few. One of the folks brought a HUGE box of Italian pastries just jam packed with cannoli and other delights.

We stuffed ourselves and then waddled back over to the tent for more sipping and good times.

The day broke up around 11pm where little by little folks wandered off back home. What few remained moved in doors for the after party which broke up around 2am. I finally Got to bed around 3am. 

Sometimes things just simply run abnormally smooth. Even the weather was perfect. We had good cloud cover to keep folks cool and just as we finished crushing, the sun came out. It simply was one of those years. I am now having my usual "post crush day" depression. All of that work, planning, and effort, and now it is all over. 

.. still.. there is only 365 days until the next crush!!!


Here are a few photos...


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## JohnT (Sep 22, 2015)

*Upsell*

While waiting to get loaded on Friday, I fell victim to the old upsell. I picked myself up a little gift (225 liters / toasted American oak). 

More barrel aging for me!!!! 

Here they are pulling it off the truck and into the winery..


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## NorCal (Sep 22, 2015)

Awesome John. So great to have this as an event to get together and have a good time. What was your varietal/ pounds?


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## Kraffty (Sep 22, 2015)

Sounds like another great time had by all. What varieties and total amount did you do this year?
Mike


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## JohnT (Sep 22, 2015)

*just a few more pictures*

These are from my niece.....


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## sour_grapes (Sep 22, 2015)

Fantastic, John. Congrats on fashioning and nurturing a meaningful tradition.


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## Boatboy24 (Sep 22, 2015)

Well done! Congratulations on another success.


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## ibglowin (Sep 22, 2015)

Looks like another fantastic CRUSH. Congrats!


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## pjd (Sep 22, 2015)

Dang, kind of wish I were part of that family!


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## Runningwolf (Sep 22, 2015)

I wish I was his neighbor!


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## GreginND (Sep 22, 2015)

Great! Looks like work and fun was had by all. I'm looking forward to my first big crush. 6 tons arriving on Oct 3. I hope it goes as well as yours.


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## sour_grapes (Sep 23, 2015)

pjd said:


> Dang, kind of wish I were part of that family!



I dunno, have you seen the pictures of JohnT? Maybe it would be good to be an adopted member, or possibly an in-law, but I wouldn't want to be related by blood....

(Just bustin' your chops, John. I am totally jealous of this effort and the event you have crafted.)


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## JohnT (Sep 23, 2015)

*What we made*

Here is a list of what we made...

100% merlot 

100% petit sirah

100% chardonnay - Pressed whole clusters (did not crush / destem). I did this do reduce the amount of tannins in the end product. Should produce a crisper, cleaner tasting wine. I used this technique on Rieslings and have loved the result. I will keep you posted. 

Old vine zinfandel - Rather high quality, very clean grapes. I have barrel aging in mind for this (new med toast American oak)

Reserve - 11 parts ruby cab, 8 parts petit sirah, and 8 parts merlot. I will age this in a 2 year old barrel. 


GreginND - The best advice I can give you is to make a checklist of everything you need to do. I have one that I have added to over the years and really keeps me focused and organized. 

Another piece of advice is to get as many boys from the age of 20 to 30 to help with the grunt work. To ensure that they perform, invite just as many girls of that age to watch them. Surprising what kids that age will do when there are cute girls watching


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## JohnT (Sep 23, 2015)

sour_grapes said:


> I dunno, have you seen the pictures of JohnT? Maybe it would be good to be an adopted member, or possibly an in-law, but I wouldn't want to be related by blood....
> 
> (Just bustin' your chops, John. I am totally jealous of this effort and the event you have crafted.)


 
No need to be jealous. Try hosting a wine event of your own. You will not be sorry!


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## JohnT (Sep 23, 2015)

After 5 years of participation in this forum, I consider all of you my family and neighbors. Perhaps next year some of you folks would like to attend....


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## Rocky (Sep 23, 2015)

JohnT, I assume you lost my phone number and address and that is why I did not get an invitation! 

Who is the fellow with the "Dayton Flyers" T-shirt? I spent some time at UD (MBA '79, MS '81) but he looks a lot younger than I.


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## GreginND (Sep 23, 2015)

Care to share that checklist? I don't know if I'm missing something.


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## ibglowin (Sep 23, 2015)

You would have to be comfortable with the "family" business…… LOL

You know "trash collection" and so forth.









pjd said:


> Dang, kind of wish I were part of that family!


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## JohnT (Sep 23, 2015)

GreginND said:


> Care to share that checklist? I don't know if I'm missing something.


 
Here is my list. There are many items I did remove (like "do Laundry") that I felt did not apply to you...


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## JohnT (Sep 23, 2015)

Rocky said:


> JohnT, I assume you lost my phone number and address and that is why I did not get an invitation!
> 
> Who is the fellow with the "Dayton Flyers" T-shirt? I spent some time at UD (MBA '79, MS '81) but he looks a lot younger than I.


 
He is my best friend's brother. A really great guy!! He helps out, pitches in, and never has a word of complaint. I am lucky to know him.


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## Steve_M (Sep 23, 2015)

JohnT said:


> Perhaps next year some of you folks would like to attend....



John,
Careful I may take you up on offer, I would really like to see a large scale operation for the hope in getting some invaluable lessons to use!

Steve


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## JohnT (Sep 27, 2015)

You are welcome any time!!!


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