Crush day at Crushday's...

[crushday]

I decided to catalog the 2021 wine journey to North Central California from the South Sound in Seattle Metro. In order to get through Portland traffic in a timely fashion, I plan to leave at 3am on Thursday morning - arguably too early. But, with fires diverting flow on Interstate 5 - coupled with unknown construction slowdowns, restroom breaks (now that I’m over 50, I have the world’s smallest bladder) and the traditional stop at In-N-Out (Medford, OR) - I elected to error on the side of time allowance. I wanted to get to the area of the vineyard no later than 5pm. Without any hiccups, I should arrive in Roseville, CA by 3pm. Fingers crossed…. @NorCal and @4score - here I come.

BTW, crush day will be Saturday. It’s a solo venture to process 1 ton of grapes (0.5 of Cabernet Franc and 0.5 of Petite Sirah). Mrs. Crushday is going to a football game that day (taking my son and his wife). Montana Grizzlies (wife’s alma mater) are playing the Washington Huskies. As hopeful as I am, I know the Griz don’t have a chance. #gogriz

 

[Kraffty]

Impressive planning for a grape trek, looking forward to keeping up with your progress.

 

[NorCal]

Safe travels @crushday, you‘re a road warrior for sure! I think we have an agenda for tomorrow. We‘ll meet at the vineyard, drop bins and go look at the grapes. Looks like @4score and @Busabill are going to come over to my place where we can pop some corks in the winery/barn. I’ll have a pizza for us to eat. We will all have cab franc and other wines to try and swap. We won’t keep you out too late.

 

[Cynewulf]

Safe travels, @crushday! I used to commute Camas, WA to Beaverton, OR and rush hour Portland traffic is wretched. Hope you were able to avoid it with the early start. Looking forward to hearing about y’all’s get together!

 

[4score]

Safe travels @crushday, you‘re a road warrior for sure! I think we have an agenda for tomorrow. We‘ll meet at the vineyard, drop bins and go look at the grapes. Looks like @4score and @Busabill are going to come over to my place where we can pop some corks in the winery/barn. I’ll have a pizza for us to eat. We will all have cab franc and other wines to try and swap. We won’t keep you out too late.

Looking forward to it!

 

[crushday]

Update: I got on the road about 30 minutes late today. Reason being is that Mrs. Crushday wanted to share a cup of coffee with me before I left. Obviously, I felt obliged to accommodate. Those 30 minutes played no significant role in the trip overall and I was able to soar through Portland Metro with ease.

I made great time, aided by only making a few stops. Only one restroom break and one refill of the gas tank got me to Metro Sacramento by 2:30pm and to my hotel by 3pm.

I was able to squeeze in a 30 minute nap before returning a few phone calls to close out my normal work day before meeting up with @NorCal at the vineyard to drop off my macro bins.

Tonight was the most fun “wine” time I’ve ever experienced. I was able to share over 20 bottles of wine with @NorCal and @4score and a third winemaker named Bill (@Busabill) and, everyone contributed to the fare. Of course, we didn’t finish all opened bottles but the wines were all amazing and ranged between white, rose' and reds. It’s humbling to sit around a table with men of this caliber; winemakers of this quality and competence that far exceeds my own skill and knowledge. We had amazing wines. I wish you could have been there.

Sometimes, sitting behind our screens blinds us to the fact that the ones we interact with on this site have lives - hopes, dreams, goals and professions beyond what we know of them on WMT. Being exposed to an additional facet of another’s life is really sobering and causes me to delve deep into introspection. I feel extremely fortunate to have found the people on our forum.

We finished up the evening by mixing all the left over red wines, roughly 2.5 gallons, and bottling the 2021 Frankenstein Blend. I got three bottles. @4score predicted the wine will be wonderful. It's difficult to disagree with the prediction.

Tomorrow, I will begin my trek home to continue my wine journey. In the back of my truck will be 2000 pounds of grapes.

Looking forward to crush, maceration and pitching some yeast.

Here are a few pics from the day:

More to follow…

 

[NorCal]

Thanks @crushday. Super fun and your wines were right there with the best. Not a bad wine was tasted. Some pics from @4score. The first being the road warrior @crushday.

 

[Kraffty]

Boy I'm torn between where I'd rather be right now. With you guys at Norcal's Winery Retreat or Ibglowin in HI. Is my jealousy showing much?

 

[4score]

It was a blast! So much great wine and wine stories and @NorCal's Big Barn was a perfect spot. It was great to meet @crushday. Special moment was @NorCal pulling out a hidden award-winning 2015 wine of mine (Barbera) that I gave him many years ago that we all assumed was long gone. Taking this on my anniversary trip with my wife. She was as shocked as I was to receive this after we were sure the last bottle was consumed long ago. I was also so happy to taste @Busabill's Amador Zin from 2020. We switched our 2021 Barbera plans to these same Amador Zin grapes after learning the deer ate our Barbera. Bill wasn't sure about the Zin in previous discussions but what I tasted last night was absolutely fantastic! A nice spicey Zin, the exact flavors I was hoping for.

 

[ibglowin]

Dang sooooooo jealous in so many ways! Beautiful fruit that will make some amazing wines I am sure!

 

[NorCal]

Neatly gift wrapped, @crushday is on the road with a ton of California fruit to the Pacific Northwest. Safe travels my friend.

 

[crushday]

Clos Du Lac - Nestled near the shores of Folsom Lake, this vineyard community is enough to make the most celebrated winemaker jealous. Picture, in your mind’s eye, a lush country club with residences lining each fairway and replace tightly manicured greens with rows and rows of head trained grapes. Do that and you begin to get a sense of this place. It’s awesome.

Headed home…. Thanks @NorCal

 

[ibglowin]

Bellissimo!

Clos Du Lac - Nestled near the shores of Folsom Lake, this vineyard community is enough to make the most celebrated winemaker jealous. Picture, in your mind’s eye, a lush country club with residences lining each fairway and replace tightly manicured greens with rows and rows of head trained grapes. Do that and you begin to get a sense of this place. It’s awesome.

Headed home…. Thanks @NorCal

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[Jay A]

OUTSTANDING! I see a refrigerated box truck in Crushday's future!

 

[crushday]

Home. Tomorrow the real work begins…

 

[Boatboy24]

Clos Du Lac - Nestled near the shores of Folsom Lake, this vineyard community is enough to make the most celebrated winemaker jealous. Picture, in your mind’s eye, a lush country club with residences lining each fairway and replace tightly manicured greens with rows and rows of head trained grapes. Do that and you begin to get a sense of this place. It’s awesome.

Headed home…. Thanks @NorCal

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Looks like heaven on earth. Great looking fruit.

 

[mainshipfred]

Home. Tomorrow the real work begins…

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I guess welcome home is in order. All I want to know is what percentage of your front tires actually stayed on the road.

 

[crushday]

I guess welcome home is in order. All I want to know is what percentage of your front tires actually stayed on the road.

Fred - lol... @NorCal can attest that when those full bins were placed in the back of the truck it barley moved. It sunk only an inch. I was mildly concerned because although I've had more weight in the back of that truck, I've never had it sitting so far past the axel and riding on the tailgate. The truck was special ordered and built as a "heavy half" and beefed up towing capacity.

I set the cruise to 65 and averaged 22.1 MPG with that load, over 3 passes. I'm sure I could have made it home without topping up the tank but prudence caused me to stop at the California/Oregon border to get gas. It took 16 gallons. I have a 40 gallon tank.

The fruit fared well. Maximum daytime temp was 91 (Redmond, CA) and overnight we dipped to 48. I uncovered the bins when I got home and everything looked great albeit with light cast from a military grade flash light.

Agenda for the day:

Coffee (2 cups) - halfway there!
Set up
Sort and crush
Initial testing (pH, BRIX)
Clean up and put away

 

[stickman]

I'm definitely jealous too, it sure looks like fun to me. It's nice to be able to share the experience with others; it feels like I'm making wine in a vacuum compared to what's going on here. @crushday Ok enough playing around, now you have some work to do!

 

[Rocktop]

And thank you @crushday for sharing the story and photos it makes everybody’s day richer. Good luck with the crush, going to be fun to follow this one from beginning to end.