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Crush Day Eve
Another crush day has come and gone. I say this every year, but the experience just keeps getting better and better!
What made this crush extra special is that we had a new member of the family attending her first crush, little Lexi who is of the ripe old age of four weeks. The mother, my favorite niece, lives in Florida. She decided to make the trip for crush. Since the whole family is gathered together anyway, she also decided to have Lexi baptized.
Another thing that made this crush special was my new apprentices, my Niece and Nephew-in-Law. I have hopes that they one day will take over the winemaking for the family. The older I get, the more I realize that I cannot keep doing this forever. It was nice handing off some of the responsibility and to see them enjoy more involvement.
Crush really began on Friday. This was the day where we rented the truck and picked up the grapes. This is a part of the crush that some folks like being a part of, so we had 6 people heading down to the supplier, two in the truck and 4 in a “chase car”.
We got to the suppliers at 10am and I immediately knew that something was wrong when I was greeted with an “I’m sorry”. Turns out that my yeast order was due to be delivered (they were having it FEDEXed), but hadn’t arrived yet. There was a day when something like this would send me into orbit, but I stayed calm. After all, I could always pick up the yeast on Sunday.
This year, I decided to rent a smaller truck. Instead of the usual 22 footer, I opted for the smaller and far less expensive 16 footer. Although we still had plenty of room, and the truck did handle much better on the road, loading the grapes was quite an ordeal. Thank God that the truck had a lift gate that could handle an entire pallet of grapes! Despite the savings, I think that I might go back to the larger truck next year.
Once loaded, I paid the bill. Each year, I always say to them that they should offer me a shot of some hard stuff before ringing up the final total. This would help soften the blow. Although it was always a joke, this year he did actually offer me a shot. After I stopped laughing, I gratefully accepted.
Once I was all paid up, we all took a walk across the street to the Italian Market where we loaded up on bread, cheeses, various types of sopressata, olives (some stuffed with blue cheese and some stuffed with sun dried tomatoes), and cherry peppers stuffed with provolone and parma ham. On our way back to the truck, I got flagged down by the supplier. She came running out yelling that the yeast had arrived. Yoooohoooo!
The rest of the day went rather smoothly. We arrived back at the ranch around noon, backed the truck into position and then spread out all of our goodies from the Italian market. I pulled a couple of corks and we sipped and ate in the beautiful sunshine. After lunch, the crew helped setting up everything. WOW! This is a job I usually do myself and, with all the help, this year it only took about 2 hours. We had everything all set up and it was only 3pm! I asked them “what should we do now?”. I was answered with glaring laughter. In short order, we were back on the deck to pull more corks.
About 5pm, they all had departed. Just 20 minutes later, other folks stopped by to see if I needed any help. With nothing left to be done, I ended pulling even more corks. My wife went out and picked up several pizzas and we had another great time. By 11pm, I was in bed and actually got some sleep.
Another crush day has come and gone. I say this every year, but the experience just keeps getting better and better!
What made this crush extra special is that we had a new member of the family attending her first crush, little Lexi who is of the ripe old age of four weeks. The mother, my favorite niece, lives in Florida. She decided to make the trip for crush. Since the whole family is gathered together anyway, she also decided to have Lexi baptized.
Another thing that made this crush special was my new apprentices, my Niece and Nephew-in-Law. I have hopes that they one day will take over the winemaking for the family. The older I get, the more I realize that I cannot keep doing this forever. It was nice handing off some of the responsibility and to see them enjoy more involvement.
Crush really began on Friday. This was the day where we rented the truck and picked up the grapes. This is a part of the crush that some folks like being a part of, so we had 6 people heading down to the supplier, two in the truck and 4 in a “chase car”.
We got to the suppliers at 10am and I immediately knew that something was wrong when I was greeted with an “I’m sorry”. Turns out that my yeast order was due to be delivered (they were having it FEDEXed), but hadn’t arrived yet. There was a day when something like this would send me into orbit, but I stayed calm. After all, I could always pick up the yeast on Sunday.
This year, I decided to rent a smaller truck. Instead of the usual 22 footer, I opted for the smaller and far less expensive 16 footer. Although we still had plenty of room, and the truck did handle much better on the road, loading the grapes was quite an ordeal. Thank God that the truck had a lift gate that could handle an entire pallet of grapes! Despite the savings, I think that I might go back to the larger truck next year.
Once loaded, I paid the bill. Each year, I always say to them that they should offer me a shot of some hard stuff before ringing up the final total. This would help soften the blow. Although it was always a joke, this year he did actually offer me a shot. After I stopped laughing, I gratefully accepted.
Once I was all paid up, we all took a walk across the street to the Italian Market where we loaded up on bread, cheeses, various types of sopressata, olives (some stuffed with blue cheese and some stuffed with sun dried tomatoes), and cherry peppers stuffed with provolone and parma ham. On our way back to the truck, I got flagged down by the supplier. She came running out yelling that the yeast had arrived. Yoooohoooo!
The rest of the day went rather smoothly. We arrived back at the ranch around noon, backed the truck into position and then spread out all of our goodies from the Italian market. I pulled a couple of corks and we sipped and ate in the beautiful sunshine. After lunch, the crew helped setting up everything. WOW! This is a job I usually do myself and, with all the help, this year it only took about 2 hours. We had everything all set up and it was only 3pm! I asked them “what should we do now?”. I was answered with glaring laughter. In short order, we were back on the deck to pull more corks.
About 5pm, they all had departed. Just 20 minutes later, other folks stopped by to see if I needed any help. With nothing left to be done, I ended pulling even more corks. My wife went out and picked up several pizzas and we had another great time. By 11pm, I was in bed and actually got some sleep.
![IMG_20171002_114131161[1].jpg](https://cdn2.imagearchive.com/winemakingtalk/data/attachments/35/35252-687e51d1ca9444a17a8101b8f64be4fe.jpg "IMG_20171002_114131161[1].jpg")
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