Tengo un ombligo!

28 March 2011

A week into work, and I’m ready for my vacation to begin!  Twelve hour days, everyday gets on you a bit…especially when you try to maintain a little social life.

Cellar work has been pretty rad, when we have plenty of jobs and we’re kept busy.  As a cellar hand, our jobs include juice transfers between tanks, racking juice, pumping lees to the RDV, doing additions (sulfur, bentonite, enzyme)…

View of the Indevin White cellar from door of Smoko

Does anyone remember that game where you put together pipes?  I do that every day!  We have a lot of fixed pipes that head around different parts of the cellar, plus use 2 or 3 inch hoses.  Today, Constanza and I transferred 80,000 liters juice that was still fermenting (yuck), across the outside cellar, then back halfway…But earlier in the day, we filled a couple barrels and three 50 L kegs with 2009 Semillion; added sulfur, bentonite, and enzyme to a ferment, and transferred just under 2,000 L from one tank to another to reach a certain volume for some reason or another…later one of the local guys who runs a forklift gave me a tip on fermenting barrels…leave the bung stop up, or it will spray wine in your face!  Oops, sorry….but the work order said ‘finished wine’ so….

I’m stoked I’m getting this big cellar experience, working with large pipe systems, different pumps, techniques…but I am disappointed that we don’t get all the aspects of the project like I did at Gallo.  There, we had the whole project specs at our fingertips, and took the wine through the entire process.  At Indevin, we get a clipboard with instructions to do only one small step in the process.  Different…good…but I like knowing the big picture!

Gianni out on the receiving pit

The food that Indevin serves us is ridiculously delicious.  Crossing my fingers that I don’t gain 10 lbs….yummy cakes and meat pies at morning smoko, huge lunch with meat, veggies, salad, bread, and a bit of fruit at afternoon smoko….then three or more days a week, we get two glasses of beer after work.  How can a girl stay skinny with those opportunities?  Today I told the cook to put me on the vegetarian list, so maybe that’ll help.

View at Sunrise to the 240K tanks

Indevin is at a great location, even though it’s a pretty big tank farm, it backs up to some rolling hills (picture Paso Robles hills) and a vineyard.  When you’re at the top of the 240,000 L tank (the largest), you can see the North Island (on a clear day).  Taking dips on the top of the tanks is great exercise plus has a great view!

Since we work 7 days a week, ‘Friday’ and ‘Weekend’ have no meaning.  However, TGBD, is all we have
“Thank God it’s Beer Day!”

29 March 2011

Wow.  Day 7 in a row, and really feeling it.  Don’t get me wrong, I like to work hard, but when it’s 12 hours a day, with no day off in sight?  You get a mild ‘hopeless’ feeling.  But really, that’s only when you’re slow…when you have jobs and you’re busy, time goes by fast, and before you know it, it’s afternoon smoko!

Kez, Sam, Lacey and Sean on BEER DAY

I ended my day on top of a tanker truck, after finishing 80,000 liters of sauvignon blanc dispatch.  That’s pretty cool….plus it was beer day!  But, we had some bubbly open so I had a couple glasses of that :)

My friend Mille, from Denmark leaves tomorrow for Fuji before heading back home, so I’m glad I got to hang out with her a bit tonight…Hope she’ll come visit California soon, or I’ll get to Denmark one day.

All day today, I was working with Chileans (then a Spaniard and an Argentinian) so I got to practice my Spanish.  “Tengo mucho tatuajes!”  Guess what that means?  Also, “Manana, tendre pantalones quartos”.  It should be sunny, so pantalones quartos should be appropriate.  Also, it looks like Amanda will be in South America this time next year.  My friend Constanza is getting married in Chile in February, and I was thinking about working vintage there next year….so I should probably be there.  Woot! Oh, and now instead of ‘Thank God it’s Beer Day’, it’s ‘Dia de Cervesa es me favorita!’ haha.

Lacey from LaConner, WA (where I as born..small world!)

I really feel like I’m an underclassman in high school these days.  I am living in a room with three (now only two, as of today) other people…Gianni and Cortney (Californians).  I work 12 hours a day (kinda like being stuck at school+sports)…and get to hang out with ‘my guy’ on smokos (breaks) and briefly after work (not too late, because it’s a work night).  Plus, I don’t have a car, nor can I drive…so I feel fifteen.  Not that there is anything wrong with that!  This old lady doesn’t feel bente quarto!

Cheers!