Diggin It in New Zealand

Last night at work was super fun! Three of us woman dug out a tank of Pinot Noir. The best part was that it was nice and warm inside the tank. Other than that, it has been slow the past couple of nights. The grapes have finished coming in and the work has slowed down. It has been almost 2 months of working harvest at Delegat's. Overall, I have enjoyed the experience even though I complain a lot. But I really I think that in the end I will look back and appreciate that I stuck with it and finished the harvest.





I am not sure what is in store for me next...I am debating doing a vintage in California this fall--Yes, I know I just moved back from there, but it is a temporary thing. Don't worry Nikki, Javier will come with me this time. I have applied for a couple harvest positions making sparkling wine. Keep your fingers crossed!

I have two days off next week!!! I cannot wait. I am a complete mess...my eyebrows need to be plucked, my legs shaved and I could use a haircut and color as well. I am looking forward to the days when I work 9-5 again. This is fun, but I am a socializer and am lacking socialization. Check out the piture of Gabby and Me inside the Pinot Noir tank. The cap was about 3 feet high. It is kind of like shoveling very packed snow. There is a quick video of me as well below.

Cheers,

Becky

A Day/Night Off!

I had the night off last night, and it was wonderful. I went shopping, out for dinner and then to a movie--Desperately, Maybe. Then I went to sleep at 2:00 AM and woke up at 3:30 PM today. It is sunny and we are going to BBQ before boarding the bus and heading back to work. There is a rumor that we only have 2 more weeks of 12 hour shifts. Then I think they cut us back to 8 hours shifts with a day off every two weeks.

I am searching for a job in the wine industry back in the United States. I am most interested in working a harvest at a winery in the Midwest and then it is back to Chicago.

During harvest, the winery has experienced its fair share of mishaps. I took a video of a 160,000 liter tank overflowing during the fermentation process. This is the tenth or so tank that has done this. There are a few factors that contribute to this: overfilling and not leaving enough head space, too much Superfood or temperature fluctuations. Last week we lost power in the whole winery for about 2 hours and all the agitators shutoff. Anyways...check out the video.

Cheers!
Becky

Another night at Oyster Bay. Here I am stirring the yeast for a 160,000 liter tank. We use over 30.5 Kilograms of yeast!!! We try to keep the yeast happy so we host a dance party as we prepare them.

Fun Times in NZ

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good

I have survived one month of work as a Vintage Cellar Hand at Oyster Bay Winery. It hasn't been as glorious and as rejuvenating as I imagined it would be. In fact, this past week was a roller coaster ride...more about that later. Last night was my first night off in 14 days. I wasn't even supposed to have the night off because they cancelled all time off because harvest is underway and there is a lot of work to be done, but I knew if I didn't get a night off then I probably wouldn't make it to the end of vintage. So I asked and they agreed to let me have the night off. I cooked a nice pasta dinner, painted my toe nails, gave myself a facial and then went out for a couple beers in Blenheim. Overall, it was a much needed, relaxing evening. I made myself stay awake until 4 AM this morning so I could keep my body tuned to the night shift cycle.

Working 84 hours a week has it's advantages. I don't have time to spend money, I earn about $1200-$1300 a week before taxes and rent and in the end I know that I will appreciate my time that I have off more. I have made some extraordinary friends here from around the world. Each one brings a different perspective about the job, about wine and about life. They have kept me motivated to stick with it and I appreciate that.

The Bad
Imagine going to culinary school and once you arrive you are assigned one job. Maybe the job is checking to make sure all the ingredients are there for the recipe or mixing sugar, flour and baking soda together. But for the whole 3 months you are in culinary school, this is what you will be doing. You don't get to see how the product moves through the entire process because you are assigned one task only and you do that task day in and day out. Well, that is what it is like here at Oyster Bay. It is a factory for wine. I transfer wine from one tank to the next tank and sometimes if I am lucky, I get to move wine and warm it so I can start the fermentation process. I love doing this! I get to work with different yeasts and it is fun watching them grow.

I almost quit about 3 times this week, but I had to take a step back and realize that this is an experience that I need to finish. The work might not be exactly what I had imagined or hoped for, but I have met a lot of great people and I am living in another country. So I am going to take it for what it is. In the end, I will have saved up some money to travel to Fiji an Australia before I head back to the USA.

The Ugly

My legs and arms are covered with dark bruises, my feet are sore from my rubber steel toed boots and yesterday I sprained my right hand! It has been over a month since I started working in the cellar and it is tough work. The city girl in me is dying to go out on the town. I have cut all my fingernails off, my hair is a disaster and I miss my heels and makeup. When I get back to the USA, I am going to be changing my outfit at least twice a day. In two months, I have only worn my heels 5 times. 5 times!

I miss everyone--friends and family and my cat Javier, I miss the Chicago nightlife and I especially miss shopping and wearing my high heels. As they say here in New Zealand, Sweet As Bro.

Cheers!
Becky