Today at 9:36 a.m. my colleague Diego, using a forklift, tipped a bin loaded with Sauvignon Blanc grapes into one of the presses at Starmont and harvest had commenced. It’s been a bit of a slow burning fire this year. A cooler than normal summer has pushed us a few weeks behind a “normal” harvest [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Diary of a cellar rat’
August 8, 2010
Diary of a cellar rat: Another harvest here already
It seems so cliché to express surprise at the steady march of time and seasons. Everyone always seems to agree when one exclaims, “July is already over? How did that happen?” I guess that’s human nature. How does it happen? But it does. The vines that stood barren, just naked stalks and dead tendrils hanging [...]
March 13, 2010
This rat is now full time
Hola amigos, long time since I rapped at ya I know but I’ve been knee deep in lees and other winery muck. But the good news: the fine fellows over at Starmont have brought me on full time. Now I can say I’m part of the wine industry and that profile photo of me on [...]
January 17, 2010
At the winery
Harvest is long gone, but I’m still working at the winery. I’m proud and thankful that my harvest internship has gone well into the winter. Right now we’re pulling lots of samples from the finished ’09 wines, most of which are in barrels. After the wine receives an analysis in the lab, the barrels then [...]
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 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 [...]
October 12, 2009
Attack of the yellow jackets!
One hazard of working harvest that I had not expected was swarms of yellow jackets high on grape juice. All of the processing equipment at Starmont is located outside, and as we crush grapes the juice and grape skins attract hordes of yellow jackets. As we crush the first few bins a few of the [...]
October 11, 2009
Midway and a moment of reflection
The rows of vines that once were covered in leaves of brilliant shades of green are now spotted with orange, red or dusty brown. Mornings are much colder and foggier and the coolness persists through the weaker sunshine of the autumnal afternoons. I have reached the mid-point of harvest and as I reflect back on [...]
October 4, 2009
Two very different kinds of tastings
One recent afternoon the head of winemaking operations took myself and the two other interns at Starmont winery for a tasting of this harvest’s juice. It was a pleasant and informative experience as we walked through the cellar sampling various Chardonnay lots from different barrels. The best part was tasting the differences flavors imparted by [...]
