The mountains and vineyards of Napa Valley are some of the area’s best known scenic beauty, but if you know where to look you can find gems of more wild scenery. One spot is tucked away in the far corner of a small valley carved through the mountains by Redwood Creek. A couple of buddies [...]
Entries from November 2009
November 19, 2009
Brew it up!
What do you do when you work at a winery and harvest is slowing down and you get your first two day weekend in about a month? Brew beer, of course. Home brewing has been a hobby of mine for about the last three years. I hadn’t had the time to put down a batch [...]
November 14, 2009
The colors of wine country
Vermont? Pffffh. The hills of Napa County wine country are painted in bright shades of red, yellow, dusty green and brown. As harvest comes to an end, the vineyards provide an amazing show of color. I always say that fall is one of the best times to visit the California wine country because you can [...]
November 10, 2009
Communication breakdown
As an intern in the cellar of a Napa winery, most of my colleagues are Mexican. My Spanish is terrible, but most of my coworkers have solid English skills. However, this doesn’t mean that communication between my self and other cellar mates is perfect. In fact, there have been a few communication breakdowns. Some of [...]
November 9, 2009
Digging out
As harvest winds down, each day we’re digging out more and more tanks. Red wine ferments with the whole grape. The juice and colors of the grapes are extracted during fermentation leaving behind the skins and other materials, such as seeds and stems, known as “pomace.” This pomace is essentially waste, but before it’s tossed [...]
November 8, 2009
California tri tip
It often seems that when it’s time to fire up the grill, tri tip steaks are always worth a consideration. A California classic, tri tip is one of the only cuts of steak that were developed on the West Coast. My understanding is the cut originated on the large Haciendas, or ranches that comprised California [...]
November 2, 2009
The final push
As I walked out of the cellar on a warm afternoon last week, I noticed the crush pad was quiet. It struck me as odd, because the grape crew had been working well into early evening lately. I figured it had just been a light day for grapes coming in to the winery. Another intern [...]
