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This year I decided to hold off on wine making. My group grew too big and ended up having "people issues" with one of the members of my group. On top of that, I had some personal issues to take care of.
Most years I needed to take several days off around crush in order to manage everything. To give you an idea of the size of this, we crushed up over 4 tons last year with 20 or so families making wine. At crush, we had around 80 people attending.
I make no money at this. I'll say this again... I MAKE NO MONEY AT THIS. all of the expenses were pro-rated by the crate and passes down to the "members", myself included. I was doing this for the shear enjoyment of it all. The big issue was that I was not enjoying it. It became just a long stream of stress.
Having no crush this year seemed like a great plan, until I told my older brother. He has had a tough year. He currently is going through the toughest thing I think a parent can go through. When I looked at his face, I just couldn't refuse.
It then struck me. Me and my older brother never did anything together.. ever. This was a great opportunity for use to do something as brothers. So my plan changed. Instead of no crush at all, I decided to just do a little with my older brother.
God himself must have loved the idea. The grapes at my local (cabernet) had a brix of 24, with a TA of .65. I do not think I have ever gotten grapes that were this well balanced (and I have been doing this for 22 years). We ended up doing a little more than I originally expected, but being at my local, with a refractometer, wonderful grapes, and a checkbook, who can possibly resist?
Here is what we ended up doing..
22 lugs of Cabernet blended with 5 lugs of merlot
5 lugs of merlot (straight)
5 lugs of Syrah
5 lugs of Prima T.
To some, the above may be a lot. To others, it may seem like very little. To me, it is less than 1/10th of what was normally made.
My "mini crush" was better than I ever expected. Instead of taking a day off to rent a truck and pick up the grapes, a day off to get the house and yard in shape, a day off to tend to equipment and get the winery ready, we did it all in one day.
My brother, who owns a construction company, has a dump truck with 4 wheel drive. We went down to the local around 7am, picked up the grapes, brought them to the winery, crushed them, cleaned and put all of the equipment away, all in the SAME DAY!!!! My brother even could compact the empty creates and dispose of them for about $10. We finished around 2pm. Two Nieces and a nephew also were there to help out, so everything went quick and easy.
Then the good part came. Me and my brother hung out (with 3 of his 7 kids) and did some sippin. It was great to get together with him again. As it turns out, he is a rather remarkable and extraordinary. Through it all, I was reminded of just how much fun winemaking was, before we grew, before having people problems, and before it became an assembly line process.
I had told all of the members of my group that I am only doing a little wine for myself and my brother and that I needed a year off from crush. This really pissed off some folks that I though were my friends. Ultimatly, I came to realize that I originally gotten into this as a passtime and for self enjoyment. My brother and his kids managed to bring that feeling back.
I may have to make some tough choices for next year. After such a great experience this year, I doubt that I will want to ever go back to the way things were.
But I digress. Sorry about the log post. The point I wanted to make was that this year's grapes from California look AWESOME!!!!
johnT.
Most years I needed to take several days off around crush in order to manage everything. To give you an idea of the size of this, we crushed up over 4 tons last year with 20 or so families making wine. At crush, we had around 80 people attending.
I make no money at this. I'll say this again... I MAKE NO MONEY AT THIS. all of the expenses were pro-rated by the crate and passes down to the "members", myself included. I was doing this for the shear enjoyment of it all. The big issue was that I was not enjoying it. It became just a long stream of stress.
Having no crush this year seemed like a great plan, until I told my older brother. He has had a tough year. He currently is going through the toughest thing I think a parent can go through. When I looked at his face, I just couldn't refuse.
It then struck me. Me and my older brother never did anything together.. ever. This was a great opportunity for use to do something as brothers. So my plan changed. Instead of no crush at all, I decided to just do a little with my older brother.
God himself must have loved the idea. The grapes at my local (cabernet) had a brix of 24, with a TA of .65. I do not think I have ever gotten grapes that were this well balanced (and I have been doing this for 22 years). We ended up doing a little more than I originally expected, but being at my local, with a refractometer, wonderful grapes, and a checkbook, who can possibly resist?
Here is what we ended up doing..
22 lugs of Cabernet blended with 5 lugs of merlot
5 lugs of merlot (straight)
5 lugs of Syrah
5 lugs of Prima T.
To some, the above may be a lot. To others, it may seem like very little. To me, it is less than 1/10th of what was normally made.
My "mini crush" was better than I ever expected. Instead of taking a day off to rent a truck and pick up the grapes, a day off to get the house and yard in shape, a day off to tend to equipment and get the winery ready, we did it all in one day.
My brother, who owns a construction company, has a dump truck with 4 wheel drive. We went down to the local around 7am, picked up the grapes, brought them to the winery, crushed them, cleaned and put all of the equipment away, all in the SAME DAY!!!! My brother even could compact the empty creates and dispose of them for about $10. We finished around 2pm. Two Nieces and a nephew also were there to help out, so everything went quick and easy.
Then the good part came. Me and my brother hung out (with 3 of his 7 kids) and did some sippin. It was great to get together with him again. As it turns out, he is a rather remarkable and extraordinary. Through it all, I was reminded of just how much fun winemaking was, before we grew, before having people problems, and before it became an assembly line process.
I had told all of the members of my group that I am only doing a little wine for myself and my brother and that I needed a year off from crush. This really pissed off some folks that I though were my friends. Ultimatly, I came to realize that I originally gotten into this as a passtime and for self enjoyment. My brother and his kids managed to bring that feeling back.
I may have to make some tough choices for next year. After such a great experience this year, I doubt that I will want to ever go back to the way things were.
But I digress. Sorry about the log post. The point I wanted to make was that this year's grapes from California look AWESOME!!!!
johnT.