Full Circle 2008 to 2014

In 2008, I took my first production job in the wine industry as a Vintage Cellar Hand at Delegat's Wine Estate Oyster Bay in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It is the vintage I compare all my other vintage experiences to: workmates, friends made, cellars worked in, number of hours worked, wine and beer consumed (during work and after work), food to fuel the long days and the list goes on. Each vintage creates memories, and these memories are priceless.

My first vintage in 2008

Gabby and me digging out a Pinot noir tank in 2008

This marks my fifth vintage as a Vintage Cellar Hand (New Zealand, California, Australia, Oregon and New Zealand). I have spent the past 10 years working in the wine industry learning as much as I can and doing as much as I can. I started my career in 2004 as an Assistant Wine Club Manager at a winery in California. I continued to work there for the next three and a half years and became their Direct Marketing Manager. It was also at this winery where I caught the production bug. I wanted to know how wine was made, so I volunteered at harvest and helped measure the Brix in the ferments and did some punchdowns. Then I started commuting up to Napa Valley Community College to take Viticulture and Enology classes on Mondays. Yep I was hooked. I wanted to make wine! So I got my Certificate of Specialization in Enology, quit my job and went to work harvest in New Zealand.

Over the past 10 years, I have worked in various roles at different wineries all around the world. I have sat behind a desk as a senior manager of direct sales, I have cruised through 500+ acres of vines collecting samples of grapes on my John Deere gator  in the Russian River Valley in California, and I have worked 12+ hours as a Cellar Hand on night shift in New Zealand inoculating, transferring and racking Sauvignon Blanc. There is no text book that could have ever taught me this much about wine, about life and about how big the world really is. These experiences have opened up my mind and my outlook on life and made me into the person I am today.

It looks like I have made a full circle because here I am, right where I started six years ago in New Zealand. There are new workmates. Sixty or so seasonal workers from all over the world along with the permanent staff of which some are still there from last time I was here. The cellar has added some new vessels, there is a new barrel hall and some of the operations have changed slightly, but overall things are mostly the same. Even so, the 2014 vintage will be different from the 2008 vintage. Different fruit, different weather, different team of people which all equals different experiences and memories.

This year Delegat's expects to crush around 30,000 tonnes of fruit. Most of that fruit will come into the winery to crush in 12-14 days. It is going to be busy. Actually it is going to be very busy. Tomorrow we find out whether we are on day shift or the night shift and which team we will be on. There are going to be six teams: 1) receival/crush pad, 2) runners, 3) floatation, 4) white team, 5) red team and 6) barrels. Hoping for days and open to a few different teams. No matter what, I plan to make the best of it.

This will most likely be my last vintage. Not because I do not like wine anymore, but because I am really hoping to get a part-time or full-time brewing job in Bend, Oregon where I live. I recently wrapped up a three month brewing internship at Deschutes Brewery, so now I am just waiting for the right opportunity to open up. Until then, I will be busy enjoying making New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and drinking a nice, cold beer after my shift. Cheers.

A few of the tanks at Oyster Bay