A Day in the Life of a Winemaker: July and August
Most people know that winemakers crush grapes and ferment wine in the fall, but I am often asked, “What do you do the rest of the year?” The short answer is, “I drink a lot of wine”. All kidding aside, I will answer that question in a six-part series beginning with this story about my July and August tasks.
First, the calendar year is a relative concept to the winemaker. Depending on the season, I may be working on wines from two or three prior vintages as well as the one under way while making production decisions that will affect future wines. For example, this summer I am simultaneously assessing the aging of unreleased wines in bottle and/or barrel from 2006 through 2009, preparing to bottle some 08 and 09 wines, and managing the cultural practices of this year’s crop with our winegrowing partners.
Second, winemakers live and breathe with the proverb “out with the old, in with the new”. Case in point, moving the aged wines from barrel to bottle provides space in the cellar for 2010 wines.
Specifically, we are bottling Monterey Chardonnay in July, and Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay and Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir in August and September. Bottling is a multi-step process that entails packaging development and making barrel selections.
Packaging is further broken down into label development (back label text, government approval, and print shop orders) as well as ordering capsules, corks and glass.
Barrel selection means I literally evaluate each barrel of aging chardonnay and pinot noir (see the video on the homepage). (Envision me three tiers up in a cool dark cellar, hopping from barrel to barrel with pen, legal pad and wine thief as I taste, spit and record impressions.) Only the very best wines are sent to the bottling line while the few that don’t make the grade are sold to other wineries.
On the subject of barrels, I am finalizing my order of new French, Hungarian and American oak barrels for the 2010 wines.
Meanwhile, this year’s crop needs attention. Vineyard Relations Manager Alejandro Aldama and I make sure all vineyards have been properly thinned of unwanted shoots. We have the pleasure of visiting about a dozen vineyards in six California counties, all within a three-hour radius of home. We are also beginning to manage leaf removal, a process that if executed properly, helps develop good skin color (and ultimately more flavor) without unwanted sunburn.
In August, we will tune and test all equipment at our winemaking facilities in Los Gatos, Monterey, Paso Robles and Sonoma County in anticipation of crush, and order related supplies such as yeasts, rubber boots and scrub brushes.
Finally, I visit the Tasting Room to familiarize our staff with new releases, and make sure our marketing materials, newsletters and web content are technically correct. I also enjoy presenting winemaker dinners and meeting the people who sell our wines in shops and restaurants.
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