In the morning, I received an e-mail saying that work would be pushed back two hours to noon, and this time I should be prepared to work. My work would begin in the way a typical harvest is begun: I had to help the winery prepare for the arrival of grapes. This meant I would do some pretty tedious work. When the grapes arrived, they would have to be removed from the stems and placed into fermentation bins, where they would sit and ferment for almost two weeks. So, I had to clean some fermentation bins!
Because good wine is difficult to produce and easy to screw up (and also because winemakers seem to be quite meticulous), cleaning and preparing the fermenters requires a careful approach. The grapes would sit in this bin for two or three weeks while fermenting. I was given close instruction as to how to wash the bins. First, I was to hose down the bins with cold water. Then, I would fill a bucket with Soda Ash (a high-PH base) and water, and I would scrub the entire bin with this soap-like substance. This would clean the bin of any bacteria that could harm the fermenting wine. After rinsing, the bin would require more work. In order to make sure any high-PH chemicals were not on the bin, I would then have to scrub the bin with a low-PH chemical, Citric Acid, with a little Sulfur Dioxide (SO2). This would offset any of the base left on the bin, while getting rid of any bacteria that could still be on the bins (apparently you can never be too careful when making wine...).
The bins are 4 ft. long, 4 ft. wide, and 4 ft. tall. To give an idea as to how tedious the work is, each bin took about 30-45 minutes to clean. I cleaned seven bins in about 4.5 hours, and finished the work soaking wet and tired. To make matters worse, while cleaning, John and some volunteers were on the sorting line going through grapes they had just received. I badly wanted to be a part of it, but like any "rookie", you have to do some dirty work before you can get to the fun stuff.
These are the grapes they were sorting that day (Pinot Noir). I will go through the sorting process at a later date (hopefully when I get a chance to take part).
After my seven bins, John decided that was enough work for me for the day, and sent me home. The next morning, I was the sorest I had been in a long time. My knees felt as if I had been laying tile, from crawling inside an awkwardly small bin, and scrubbing every wall, floor and ceiling.
The bins are 4 ft. long, 4 ft. wide, and 4 ft. tall. To give an idea as to how tedious the work is, each bin took about 30-45 minutes to clean. I cleaned seven bins in about 4.5 hours, and finished the work soaking wet and tired. To make matters worse, while cleaning, John and some volunteers were on the sorting line going through grapes they had just received. I badly wanted to be a part of it, but like any "rookie", you have to do some dirty work before you can get to the fun stuff.
These are the grapes they were sorting that day (Pinot Noir). I will go through the sorting process at a later date (hopefully when I get a chance to take part).
After my seven bins, John decided that was enough work for me for the day, and sent me home. The next morning, I was the sorest I had been in a long time. My knees felt as if I had been laying tile, from crawling inside an awkwardly small bin, and scrubbing every wall, floor and ceiling.
