CRUSH FITNESS

I had no idea how physically strenuous this Crush experience would be.  It has been so fun to physically work.  I stay pretty active on the ranch, and when I do go to work, I'm in a totally different mental capacity, Its more about visiting with people and sharing with them information about the wine.  While it is lots of fun, there is something to be said about doing something that is challenging to your body, at the end of the day you feel not only tired, but accomplished.  Then Sherman says, "lets have a team beer!"...and thats when you feel really accomplished!

Had some fun with this video, I hope you have the same sense of humor!!

Controlled Chaos

This weekend was Harvest Festival in Paso Robles, California.  It is our busiest weekend of the year, and it is also my anniversary with the Thachers!  I gave them a sappy anniversary card, you know the type with a little old couple on the front.  I take it seriously, I have worked for them for two years...this is big, this is the most committed relationship I have ever had!  It all began two years ago this weekend!  I met Michelle when I was asked to babysit her daughters one day while Michelle opened the tasting room (I think this is the last time I was asked to babysit...hmmm I think they think I am better behind the bar??).  Michelle was nine months pregnant with their son, and was going to need some help in the tasting room, especially during Harvest Festival weekend.  Jan Simpson, of Whalebone Winery, suggested that she call me to help.  

At that point, I didn't know anything about wine!  Michelle met me in the tasting room and told me a little about their wines and I tasted through.  She said it was going to be really busy but she and Sherman would be there to help if I had any questions....

Well, she called at 6pm the night before, and said, "Katie, this baby is coming, we're headed to the hospital, and you're on your own tomorrow!"  And so, my roommate Heather, a couple of the Thacher's friends and I, did our best!  I find that people are generally pretty happy if they have wine in their glass, so that was the main objective and we figured everything else out!  

I think it was just my initiation into Thacher Winery!  It was a little crazy, or as we like to say, "Controlled Chaos!"

It was the first few months of being open, which served as muse for the name "Controlled Chaos," the first Thacher Winery blend!  The blend is very Californian, and has been a big hit.  42% Zinfandel, 37% Mourvedre, and 21% Grenache.  A double gold medalist at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, and just mentioned as an "Outstanding California Red," by the Wine Spectator (who also gave it a 90), Controlled Chaos has taken the world by storm!  

It was chaos, those first few months, and how much control...well that is debatable! Construction on the winery was completed in August of 2008, and up until then, Sherman was a bit of a desperado winemaker, shuffling around renting space from other wineries.  Once he had his own space, it was really nice for him to spread out, and so he took on more fruit than he had in the past.  While Sherman was busy in the winery, Michelle was planning the grand opening of the tasting room (Labor Day weekend), and taking care of their two girls, who were then 5 and 2!  So needless to say, they had their hands full!  

It only got crazier when Cody was born on Harvest Festival weekend, and of course that was my first weekend as well!  Somehow we all held it together, and as Michelle always does, she made it look graceful! 

It has been a fast two years, so exciting and so much fun!

Now hopefully, when you crack open a bottle of our Controlled Chaos, you will know the true story behind the name!

Feel Like Makin' Wine

Mastering the art of picking stems....

Hi Steve! 

Thanks for being the only one to follow My First Crush!  I know that I have many loyal friends and fans out there that are reading my every word, but Steve is the only one who is brave enough to vouch for me! PS - Steve is the coolest guy, he has a really beautiful and funny wife who is always quick to cut up with me in the tasting room and trade earrings... you know usual tasting room stuff!  So thanks for your support...

(friends...this is your cue to make our friendship public...go on...)

Crush is moving right along!  Since my last post, we have processed 8 more tons of Zinfandel!  On Thursday we had 4 tons from Bailey Ranch and yesterday 4 tons from Wills Hills.  These are two awesome Westside vineyards (by Westside, I mean West of Paso Robles) (Here in wine country, we pay attention to what side of the tracks the fruit comes from.  You know, a little Westside Eastside business goin on... We don't have any gang signs yet, but I'm sure it's not far off... lets just say you wouldn't want to catch an Eastsider on the Westside after dark...) (Now on my third parenthesis, please excuse the punctuation err, but I was just kidding, Eastsiders and Westsiders comingle quite pleasantly, for the record). 

The topography is very vast in our region, and many microclimates exist, this is one reason why fruit varies so much.  For example, the Bailey Ranch fruit was rather large in berry size and not as raisinated as the Will's Hills Zinfandel.  Variance in fruit can be for many reasons other than just vineyard location, topography, climate, weather, farming technique, but also dependent upon varietal clones.  The big berries of the Bailey Ranch Zin seemed to pop inside of the destemer whereas the smaller berries of the Will's Hills popped right through, with little run of juice.  Due to the crazy weather this year (113 degrees last Monday, and 54 degrees and pouring rain tonight) there certainly has been a flux in fruit.  The Will's Hills was pretty raisinated, meaning many of the berries were shriveled up like raisins.  These berries look and taste like raisins, but will hopefully rehydrate during fermentation.  

Our fruit is handpicked and placed in large plastic "picking bins" which hold aprox 1,000lbs each.  Once it arrives at the winery, it is weighed to get a total tonnage amount.  It is then placed in the barrel room where it can be kept cool.  Bin by bin, Sherman brings each out and lifts it with his sheer strength (forklift) into the destemer.  This process is the most time consuming.  The clusters move through an auger which pushes them into a giant stainless tube with lots of nickel sized holes, running through the tube is set of paddles that spiral similar to a DNA strand.  The paddles pop the berries off of the stem which is discarded meanwhile the berries bounce onto a vibrating sorting table.  This is where I come in! I am the master of the sorting table! I stand on one side and make sure the berries move evenly across the table to allow for seeds to fall through, and I also pick any stems that have managed to escape the wrath of the destemer.  The berries bounce their way down the table to a clean picking bin, and eventually into a large bin called a "fermenter ."  

I am working on a short video of all of this...please look for it soon!

Tomorrow, if the rain lets up we will have 4 more tons, this time Syrah!

Cheers,

Katie

ZIN Week!

So...welcome to my first post, on my first blog, on my first crush!  I have never done this before, so bare with me, I was however a journalism major so this social media stuff shouldn't be too complicated.  It is my goal to share my winery adventures with you; hopefully we will both learn a thing or two!

As I said earlier, I have worked for the Thacher's for two years.   It has, from my perspective, been a wonderful relationship.  I love the Thachers and feel like I am part of the family...oh and Sherman makes great wine!  I will tell you all about how I got swept into their "controlled chaos" on another post, but for now I think I better get you up to speed on what's been happening this week at Thacher Winery!

It has been a strange summer, overall relatively cool temperatures and about 40" of rain this year caused us to wonder what harvest season would look like.  Sherman has been busy taking samples from the different local vineyards we source from and measuring the brix (a unit representative of the sugar content of an aqueous solution, measured in degrees) and the total pH.  For the past two weeks I have been a little over excited, asking Sherman every two seconds when the grapes were going to come in...finally he said, "this week!"  

So my duties began on Monday, power washing the picking bins, and a lesson on driving the forklift.  Speaking of forklifts... I'm not sure if other people have the same desire to drive tractors as I do, but ever since I was introduced to my Grandpa's old Case, I can't get enough of them.  I once painted "Bessie" (as I will now refer to her) on the side of his old grease ridden, yellow dinosaur.  Most of the labels of what lever moves what, were rusted off so it was basically a craps shoot weather or not you'd accomplish what you set out to do on ol' Bessie... or even if she'd start, I used to say, "C'mon Bessie-B-Good!" Bessie and I spent a lot of time together, and a lot of time stationary, but when I did get her to start...wow...invigorating!   

Sherman's forklift is super easy compared to Bessie, but equally liberating.  When you are 5'3" like me, being able to reach the top picking bin on a stack of 8, feels amazing!  However, there is one thing about the forklift... If you don't weigh enough, it doesn't recognize that there is someone in the driver's seat, and it automatically kicks into this awful screech beeping noise, worse than a big truck in reverse, and won't move.  You have to then shift back into neutral, then back into gear, and it will stop beeping.  It is only mildly annoying and it does make you feel thin...but my question is this... Mr. forklift designer man, why if I weigh too little for your machine, do my pants not fit?  Ha! I wonder if there has ever been a discrimination case against a forklift company for not designing their machines for the vertically challenged? hmmm...   Sherman said he is just going to put a sack of grain on the seat for me. Problem solved. 

Once the bins were washed, Sherman took 8 of them to ChristopherJoyce vineyard.  The vineyard is named after its owner, Joyce and her son Christopher.  They have been in the tasting room a few times.  Christopher is very charming and looks like a young Brad Pitt.  He asked me to dinner once, but I was in the middle of moving.  I told him he was welcome to come over for dinner instead, as we were going to bbq after we moved a few things.  I will never forget the look on his face when he saw the two other guys who were also there for the bbq.  So there I sat with the three gents trying to make small talk with each of them over bbq'ed tri-tip.  You should have seen the armoires, dressers, and California king size bed I had those guys move.  Anyway, I haven't seen him since...poor guy, I'm sure he was sore the next day.  

So the 8 bins hold aprox 1,000 lbs of fruit each, so we received 4 tons of Zinfandel from ChristopherJoyce on Tuesday morning around 11am.  It is a really interesting process of desteming the grapes, which I will explain in detail in my next post.  I will be filming the process, so look for some of My First Crush videos soon!

As for now, I have to put my crush clothes on and get ready because we have 4 tons of Zinfandel coming in from Bailey Ranch Vineyard, another westside vineyard (I have not attempted to date anyone from this vineyard).

More soon, Cheers!