I can’t wait to see 2018 on some bottles of beautiful juice that I literally had my hands in. You’ll probably want to drink all of the wine from the vintage you helped with. You’ll remember how your crew felt like family and you don’t even care if they ever learned your name. Your memories turn away from that feeling of exhaustion to remembering how much you love the smell of fermenting grapes in the autumn air. It’s not long before you forget about the uncertainty, the grape guts, and the sore muscles. When you get the wine bug, there’s no cure. In spite of the pain, working crush is pretty awesome. Addicted to crush: you’ll want to work harvest again - and again. Another woman was there from France and I bet I’ll one day I’ll read about her as the head winemaker somewhere - if only I knew her real name!ħ. In fact, a couple of the women I worked with were heading to Australia for harvest season in the southern hemisphere after they finished up harvest in Canada. I learned that not everyone who works harvest works at the winery the rest of the year. Can you imagine if I had started at the beginning and went through to the end of harvest? I’d have been a mess! I walked into the middle of people who already cared very much for each other, like a small family. I was at the winery for a week and only in the cellar for a few days, but for some reason I still didn’t want to say goodbye. The struggle is real, and so is the bond. I guess it’s a rite of passage and I didn’t earn it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there long enough to get myself a nickname. Of course, I can’t forget about the woman appropriately named The Legend. ![]() Yeah, I don’t know why or how she got that nickname either. One woman’s name was Gary, but I never did get the reason. I don’t actually know the real names of most of the people I worked with. Everyone gets a nickname for crush! The Cellar: where nobody knows your name. My arms get sore just thinking about it.ĥ. Now every time I swirl a glass of wine and take a sniff, it brings me right back to doing an hour and a half Merlot pump over. ![]() If I did, I probably shouldn’t be in the wine biz. You may never get the smell of fermenting grapes out of your nose …or the wine stains out of your clothes.įortunately, I don’t really mind either of those things. So invest in a quality pair of boots and get yourself some comfortable insoles. Also, you’re on your feet the whole time. Rubber boots kept my feet and legs dry up to my shins which is especially comforting when it’s getting cold out. No matter how careful you are, making wine gets messy. Not only because of all the spraying down of every single piece of equipment in the cellar, but the splashy splash of grape juice and the grape guts that get stuck to you. When making wine, rubber boots are your best friend. Fortunately, the spray guns have arrows to point out which way the water is going to come out, otherwise this rookie would have had a face full of water many, many times.ģ. There are several water hoses throughout the cellar and on the crush pad, and I’m certain every single one of them got me at some point. Every single thing gets sprayed down with a hose, sanitized, wiped, taken apart, sprayed, put back together, sprayed again and sprayed some more. Cleaning.ĩ0% might be a conservative amount as I was soaked in water for pretty much my entire time in the cellar. Don’t underestimate the importance of getting in decent shape before you agree to work in a cellar.Ģ. Body parts I didn’t even know I had were sore. So at the end of each work(out) day in the cellar, I was completely exhausted and everything was sore. My idea of multitasking is writing about wine while drinking wine. My idea of fitness was “fit’ness taco in my mouth.” I sit at a desk and write about wine. I thought this would be a great way to kickstart my non-existent workout regime. Making wine is physical and it’s challenging if you’re not fit. ![]() Don’t even finish reading this article, just drop and give me 10 pushups immediately. If you’re not already in great shape, I recommend you start working out prior to arriving at the winery. You need muscles to make wine! …and you need those muscles before harvest! Don’t use crush to kick start your fitness goals. Here are the top 7 things I learned while working crush:ġ. I knew it wasn’t going to be glamorous, but I was not prepared for just how much work it takes to make wine. Every winery is a little bit different, but the fundamentals are the same. Go for it! I had the opportunity to spend a few days on the crush pad in exchange for some valuable hands-on education. ![]() Crush is a great way to get your hands dirty - stained purple, actually (wear gloves) - and to get a glimpse of what winemaking is like. So, you wanna work at a winery during harvest, do you? Have you thought about trying your hand at making wine? Maybe you want to give harvest a go to see what it’s like.
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