Finally a day off!

Well, I am enjoying my first day off of work since Wednesday, September 20th.  The harvest is clearly in high gear!  I am extremely exhausted and on average have been going to bed around 9pm every night.  Not only is it like working out all day but it's also the mental exhaustion.  Making wine is very labor intensive and also brain intensive.  Now that we have had several loads of grapes come in there are now many jobs to do in a day besides sorting the grapes which is physically challenging and not mentally.  Some of the mental challenges or things I need to do and remember in a given day, starting with the morning, 7:30 sharp.

6:45am, time to start the day!

Punch down wines that have yeast added to them.
Harvest Pinot grapes.
Add grapes to primary fermentation tanks, add enzymes.
Clean grape conveyor, get ready to harvest white wines, clean white wine press, harvest white grapes, press white grapes direct to tank.
Measure, mix, and add yeasts to grapes that are ready for yeast.
Add food for yeast where needed.
Add wine to barrels add more food more needed.
Clean winery, wash, repeat!!!  

And because there are many different types of juice because of the single vineyards, you are constantly trying to remember what needs what.  Right now there are probably 6 or 7 different tanks that are filled and are at different stages in the process.  The winery smells like wine now!!  It smells soooo dang good and has me always thinking of drinking it!  I just want to jump in and swim around in the tanks!  haha.

Also, as many of you know, this week was my birthday.  Probably the best birthday on record. They day started off as a usual day.  Harvesting the grapes, etc, then around noon I saw a delivery truck from Costeaux French Bakery (Costeaux) and thought could that be for me, nah, it has to be for Ken (owns the catering company and his house is right next to winery).  So I continue to sort grapes, keep in mind I really didn't tell anyone at the winery that it was my birthday.  When lunch rolls around, which today was done my Ken's catering company, I walk into the office and everyone is saying happy birthday, I can't beleive it.  How do you all know?  Oh we have our ways they say.  Then on the counter I see a cake that reads Happy Birthday Bybs and I know instantly who it is from, it totally made my day!!!

Thank you so much! Love you :)!  

We enjoyed the cake for lunch and then after work, now that everyone knows its my birthday, the guys and I cracked a bottle of my favorite Rochioli wine, the East Block, and polished off the cake in the lab and went home extremely happy!!  The cake went real good with the wine!!!  REAL GOOD.  Tip, try this, chocolate cake with a nice Pinot.  Take a bite of the cake, swallow a little of it, then wash the rest down with the wine!!  It will blow your mind!  Yum Yum!

My birthday didn't stop there, last night I came back to San Ramon to celebrate my birthday with my family, we went out to eat at Izzys Steak Joint which was superb.  I then came home to a bottle of Rochioli's Rachel's Vineyard Chardonnay from that same special someone who surprised me with the cake.  Awesome!!!!  I bought some lotto tickets on my bday too, which I've wanted to do for quite some time but always forgot.  I didn't wine, I really thought I was going to.  It was a little disappointing ha!     

Time to enjoy the rest of my day of watching college football then its back to work tomorrow.