Another way to get involved is simply send them an email from the winery's website contacts. Russell did this. About 10 is what I think he said.
PART 2
First it was sporadic, but now the grapes seem to be arriving daily. Yesterday we pressed about 25 tons of Chardonnay grapes from two different sources - Ritchie Vineyard & Martinelli Laughlin. So, let's start there:
What's happening and what you will be asked to do as a winery grunt;
The grapes arrive in 93 lb. plastic half-ton bins, They get weighed. For instance, the Martinelli grapes weighed about 15 tons that were in 40 bins. (obviously each bin is not to full capacity. They came at 2 separate times in the day. About 7.5 tons/20 bins per press-cycle. Ritchie was done earlier in the day.
The huge 10-12 ton Press is set up with a sump, pump, hoses & various clamps to a tank on the far side of the cellar. The hoses were sanitized and rinsed. These things are done by the Ramey team including the interns. The tank has previously been washed and sanitized by an intern (more on that process later).
Then an expert with the forklift, usually Cameron, Dave or Paul (associate winemaker, cellarmaster, assistant cellarmaster respectively) start dumping the bins of grapes into the Press. Remember the picture? That Press is about 2-stories high.
Intern washes bins with hose and pushes them outside to be stacked, often 20 or more bins. Think Strongman Contest. Pushing a Volkswagon Bug up a hill (that's after #24). The bins wait to be picked up for next round of grape picking.
Our press is set on a computerized program that takes about 4 hours or so, going through 7 cycles. The short explanation is that a huge bladder inside expands slowly and crushes the grapes, deflates and the drum rotates the grapes and re-inflates and so on. So, we just sit around drinking beer while we wait. NOT!
As I previously mentioned, there are usually many things going on at once. Barrels are being laid out according to the Winemaking team's specs - David Ramey's specs. A random example not specific to this episode would be 8 new french oak, 12 '07 and '08 barrels, 4 older oak barrels and maybe 4 completely stainless barrels. The new and stainless barrels are rinsed. The older ones are washed and steamed. Yesterday, we did 5 minutes with 180 degree water on each barrel. You can do the math and see that a process like this can take all day. One day we did 120 barrels. The barrel washing and steaming and rinsing hoses all have to be clamped to faucets. I mention this because nothing here is too heavy but it adds up, like doing reps with light weights, only for 7, 8, 9 or more hours. Your moving each piece of equipment from barrel to barrel. Bending and lifting constantly. Spinning empty barrels to drain them. Hoses are long and get caught. Its a constant struggle. Nothing major but the tugging and pulling and carrying them up ladders and it all just wears you out. (I can eat all the carbs I want and still have my blood sugar drop).
Back to the original process of pressing Martinelli. When the grapes are done you go backwards. The pomace (pressed grapes, stems, seeds, etc) is rotated out of the Press and into bins. The bins get dumped into a dumpster specifically used for pomace. I believe a company picks it up and it is recycled back into vineyards and farms. Interns get to jump into the pomace dumpster with a pitch-fork and rearrange that mess. "Green Acres" style. The hoses are rinsed, the million pieces of pomace are sprayed off the floor and then you get to clean the Press.
Don the wet suit!!! The first time it took me about 2 to 2.5 hours, at least that's what it seemed like but it is not an exaggeration. You spray this beast with all its little slots and crevices inside, the bladder has creases, the damn grapes begin to seem like roaches due to your fatigue-induced psychosis. They just keep appearing and coming at you. Pure, steamy hell. I need to be more organized. Come up with a plan. Shave minutes off my time. It can be done. You sweat, you're wet in spite of the rain gear. You scream and cuss into the emptiness. And suddenly, its over.
Final floor spray and sweep. A look around to roll up hoses and wires. Pitch-fork the pomace dumpster if you need more room for tomorrow and crack open an ice cold beer!
Next episode we'll go over some stuff. Stuff that might make you feel better about what you are doing. Until its time to clean the press again. Get moving Grunt!
