Krispé et moi en Bourgogne

after 1 and 1/2 harvests in napa, i jetted off to france for a 2-week vacation and to meet up with danielle in paris and kirsty in burgundy. unfortunately, i landed smack in the middle of the metro/train strike which forced me to take a 90 euro, 3-hour cab ride into paris. by the time i got on the train set for nuits-st. george a few days later, i had absolutely had it with paris...all the traffic, the saga of finding cabs, the almost 7-hour train ride from normandy back to paris (which should take 2.5 hours)...c'est chiant mais c'est paris.

well, at least danielle, kindra, and i did make it to bayeux in normandy for a couple of days. wish i could spend more time in that area...eating butter slathered apples while drinking calvados...next time. i was glad to still be able to do the half day tour of the d-day landing sites, especially pointe du hoc (where the rangers scaled the cliff) which still has all the pockmarks from the allied shells.

and then i made my way down to my beloved burgundy to meet up with kirsty or krispé or kurty depending on who you talk to at domaine faiveley where she had her internship. it was vachement bien to see kirsty and, especially, to catch up again. we just had fun tooling around burgundy. we made it to beaune several times to taste at maison champy (sadly all the 2005
pinots have sold out but i did score the corton-charlemagne that i helped make), to shop at the amazing saturday market, to eat at caves madelaine (my all-time favorite beaune restaurant), etc. we did take a very nice long walk from nuits-st. georges (where she's staying) all the way to clos de vougeot, passing romanée-conti on the way.
we were also good and cooked a lot of meals so as not to spend our life-savings on meals out (that dammed dollar). we made a delicious thanksgiving meal with chicken, peas, polenta, and lardons (yummy pieces of thick-cut bacon) that went quite well with some patz&hall pinot that i had brought along. below, kirsty is modeling our big can of cassoulet and duck confit (which you all know is one of my all-time top ten dishes).
sadly, we didn't get to a lot of winery visits and tastings. next time, we'll plan months in advance and have an exact itinerary all worked out (hahah...we'll see) but we did manage to polish off at least 1 bottle of wine pretty much each night. i couldn't reach jean-baptiste at domaine jean-claude bachelet et fils (i'll get you next time j-b), but at least i could try one of their st. aubin chardonnays at la cabotte, a delicious restaurant in nuits-st. george. interestingly enough, a vigneron from nuits-st. george was entertaining an american guest who turns out to be the son of robert haas from tablas creek. they very kindly shared their 1966 château palmer, which was still unbelievably fresh for being a little over 40-years old. no tears yet though, because kirsty and i did make up for it in good form by scoring 2 tickets to le grand tasting in paris organized by bettane et dessauve (vin de france journalists) from dimitri at maison champy. we tasted all over france and even into italy. sadly, our palettes now favor the fresh acidity found in burgundies so we found the rhône wines lacking and disappointing. happily, the sauternes premier crus and champagnes made up for it!

now, i'm back in napa and facing the grim reality of a vacation ended. oh well, at least i found potential new homes in burgundy that i'll try to make into a pretty reality in a few years!no post about a wine region would be complete without the requisite vine photos so here you go. some of domaine faiveley's vines with kirsty's impeccable calligraphy on the yellow tags, followed by 2nd crop still hanging pretty, and by far the smallest basket press (literally it's sitting on a metal bookshelf) to add to my tiny winery that's still in the works.

genossenschaftskellerei

well it was a whirlwind finish for my job at patz & hall, but i was immediately thrown into the fire at realm cellars (merci mille fois brittany for that job head's up)! as some of you may or may not know, the wine industry is different from most industries. many places like to have you on for a "trial" period during harvest (when they need the extra hands) so as to ensure the compatibility between the 2 parties. many of us are lucky enough to find a full-time job right off the bat, while the rest of us (like me) kind of meander along until the right job appears. my gig at realm cellars is also temporary, but there is a more likely chance that i will be able to find a permanent position afterwards. fear not, i will find work! if i don't have the wherewithal (love that word), then i'm sure my pimp brittany will be able to wrestle something up.

in any case, i can finally say that i work at a genossenschaftskellerei, which is my favorite german word and means wine co-operative! realm cellars is housed in chateau boswell (sorry frenchies, i haven't figured out how to add accents) on the silverado trail a little north of st. helena. we are one of many small wineries that have space inside, including chateau boswell, arietta (where brittany is assistant winemaker), and a few others. it is quite a change from the lofty and spacious patz & hall. there are many things that i believe would make life easier...an actual trash can in the winery, those rolling platforms for our 44-gallon plastic brute containers, a bug sprayer that we can fill with our sanitizing chemical, etc. it is also reminiscent of the logistical dilemma at flag hill winery in new hampshire, which still makes graham scratch his head. as chris says, "it's like playing that game where you have these tiles you have to re-arrange to make a complete picture while utilizing one empty space, but you don't want to cheat by prying out the tiles and then putting them back in."

but i digress, in the 4 days that i have been working at realm cellars, i have had SO much fun...everybody (juan, mike, chris) at realm is great, i get to see brittany and her furrowed brow again, everybody else (josh, johann, luc, drew, emmanuel) have also been incredibly friendly. i can have beer with lunch and i don't need a harness to dig out a tank. i believe i have completely mastered my fear of heights as i've had to learn to work without a catwalk (clambering and walking along tanks will certainly do that). and this is the first time that i'm working with the bordeaux varietals and i must admit, when done correctly, they can be just as good as pinot ;). i can now also say that i've successfully filled the most expensive barrels without spilling any red wine and staining the precious wood.
one last thing, i believe i've been making a certain side of the family jealous with only photos of kali van zandt. thus, i would like to add some photos of elise and elliott...my other very adorably precocious cousins. time for the oohing and aahing to begin!

harvest's end

another huge chunk of time has passed with no new blog entry, but never fear, harvest's end is near! it's been the same ol', same ol' at work so i figured there wasn't anything really exciting to add that you hadn't heard already. a quick few updates...as you can see, we are all very hard at work :)
i hit the magic 88,888 miles on my beloved car (don't know why i think it's magic, maybe it's 'cause i should like 8's since i'm chinese or 'cause i happened to have my camera on hand)...
i took the long anticipated trip up to Flowers Winery in the "true sonoma coast" with brittany in order to visit katy (their new enologist). the (incredibly not too bad) 2-hour drive from napa was well worth it because we were hit with absolutely stunning views all along the drive. once we drove through the thin fog and made it to the winery, we were greeting with even sweeping vistas. we tasted through the ferments with the winemaker...quite delicious...i'll have to keep an eye on those releases! then just sat back and relaxed as we exchanged harvest stories, caught up on everything, and ate cheese on somebody's deck (who are never home but have one of the best views of the ocean).
that's all for now...sadly...come on red sox...

a proud auntie

it's been long delayed, but here's my niece/cousin/2nd cousin, kali van zandt, wearing my onesie present and touching her toes! i have yet to meet her, but i hear she's wicked cool. luckily, i've been having fun and practicing holding another baby, my friend sarah nunamaker's lil' one, eva. unfortunately, i don't have any photos from my most recent trip to see them in ukiah as i forgot my camera :(
in other news...wait there is no other news because i've been working and working and working. that's right, another harvest has started as well as 10+ hour days. it's been A LOT of fun at patz & hall though...beer and ice cream treats always stocked in the fridge and freezer, an easy willingness to take the time to explain why things are done a certain way, and always a quick quip to make the day go by easier.

i had my 1st day off in 2 weeks the other saturday, so i took advantage and got the hell out of dodge (aka napa). i drove up to bolinas friday night to join in on the annual colombo-glass oyster festival. the colombos, joe glass, and other family friends have been going up to bolinas to spend a weekend of oyster-eating, wine-drinking, and story-swapping for some time now. i've been lucky enough to get the precious invite a few times so that it was my 4th time to bolinas. those previous excursions came in handy as it was my 1st time to drive in alone. normally this would be no problem what with the advent of google maps and mapquest, but bolinas is reknown for its lack of road signage...so much so that generally the last sign you used to see said "bolinas 2 miles" with no further instructions. now even that sign is gone so that you have to really rely on your wits! i did make it without a hitch and spent a very relaxing day off where all i did was eat, drink, and make merry. not even the low-lying fog could ruin a pretty much perfect day!

Q: who knows how to throw a good party?

A: Patz & Hall!!!
the wonderful owners of Patz & Hall had their Winery Grand Opening Party yesterday at their new home on the outskirts of sonoma. it was pretty !@#$& incredible. a lot more guests than i was expecting and the winery looked ah-mazing. awesome wines were poured and delicious nibblers abounded with the backdrop of a couple of kickin' djs. and who knew you could turn a destemmer mesh cage into a gigantic flower vase!?!
the workers and interns were out in full force and it was great to see everybody all dolled up and outside of the work setting. my camera didn't capture all of us, but my fellow interns above are mike (the quiet one), tom (the aussie whose roomies gave him a faux-hawk), and josh (who cut himself shaving). and there's wynne (the new devo president) showing us just how on the ball she is or how much fun she can have. the after party at tom's was fun, but reminded me of how old i'm getting. the cops getting called on us and telling us that the people (i.e. wynne and i) on the trampoline were laughing too loud...that's a great way to throw you back to those high school years...

no. 756

i apologize for leaving such a long gap between posts. to be honest, i wasn't sure if i should continue posting. once i returned to the good ol' u.s.a., i realized how little i wanted to take any photos. and what's a good blog post without photos? besides, all the photos i could have taken were with all the people who would probably be reading this so it seemed like a moot point.

i have been so lax in taking photos that i didn't even bring my camera with me to my 1st giants game on monday, august 6th...even with the prospect of witnessing homerun #756 by the one and only barry bonds. lucky thing i didn't stress over it because the lil' bitch didn't even hit anything! but i was sad that i couldn't share my view of that "crappy" game (crappy only in the fact that i didn't see the record breaking home run because the giants still won in extra inninngs) since we had some pretty awesome seats in the view box behind home plate with views of the bay. i can rip a photo off the internet and post what #756 did look like, which he hit a day later...


anyway, i've moved into a room in napa with a really nice roommate/landlady who is a portfolio manager at moet & hennessy so it's nice that we share wine in common but work in different parts of the industry. i started my next job as a vintage cellarhand at patz & hall on august 1st. the owners are super cool and they really know how to take care of their own, which is refreshing. heather patz even hosted a bbq at her house that following friday with plenty of food and wine. nate has been a breeze to work for too and i can tell it's going to be wicked to work with the other interns. tom, the standard aussie intern, has helped remind me the sweet lingo from that part of the world that i forgot about (e.g. he just lost the plot). and, unsurprisingly, knows most of my aussie friends. he mentioned how he would like to take photos on one of our many drives after work, so i pulled over and figured this would be a nice photo for all you non-californians...
well, i'll try to be better at adding new posts in the future, but i'll sign off for now 'cause i feel like some serious relaxing after an intense 1st full week of bottling (i woke up on thursday with my hands locked into a bottle gripping pose since i had half the previous day grabbing bottles as they came off the line and putting them into boxes...

M.F.P bids adieu to N.Z.

well the time has come for me to face reality and return to the united states. as for M.F.P., the joke started when the craggy range winery vintage hats were unveiled and someone said that i should have received a tiara due to my special scholarship status. all of us just took the joke and ran with it. the pinnacle was reached in wellington when we passed a shop that had the above poster in the window. since then that has become my joke nickname. conveniently enough, M.F.P. also stands for mother f*&!@ princess :)

so i have since finished my tour of the south island and, as i mentioned before, it is wicked beautiful down there. i've uploaded some photos since words (and sometimes photos) just can't
do it justice. i definitely want to return to new zealand and work vintage in central otago...hopefully at felton road.

i also stopped in kaikoura, which is very similar to the new england coastline. this is where i splurged on a d.i.y. dinner and bought new zealand rock lobster and greenshell mussels. an absolutely superb dinner!

as i prepare to return home, i am very sad to leave but i am also very excited to return home and catch up with all of you so be prepared to receive phone calls from me!

i will also decide if i should continue posting entries to this blog...could still be interesting but the posts may just be fewer in between...we shall see...

middle earth

yeah, yeah....you can stop snickering in the peanut gallery but the south island does look straight out of tolkien's imagination (long before peter jackson came along). look for my next entry when i'm smart enough to remember photos of otago/middle earth (lake matheson will have to be a stand-in for now). it is also true that it is A LOT more beautiful than the north island. don't get me wrong, the north island is also very pretty, but the south island is more dramatic in its beauty. it is also very reminiscent of new england and maine's coastline.

obviously you can gather that i'm having an ah-mazing time on the south island. it does get a little lonely traveling alone, but i still have daily conversations with my "vodafone best mate" katy (sometimes on speakerphone with brittany and naughty caine :). my first days were exploring marlborough and its multitude of wineries. nautilus (craggy watch out 'cause this place is quite flash too), fromm (note to my german friends from gesenheim...if you make it to marlborough, then go to fromm and check out their german-styled rieslings), and neudorf (owned by new zealand's answer to robert redford) were definite highlights. i found the spy balls that gave spy valley winery its name...very x-files like but also a great picnic spot.i took a detour drive to punakaiki and the pancake rocks. i turned the corner and found myself in hawaii looking at a scene out of lost, but with a more plausible polar bear encounter.i didn't have time to make it abel tasman or milford sound (note to jenn...next campervan journey?), but i did make it to fox glacier and lake matheson which were unbelievably gorgeous. i drove into glacier country and was met by rain that turned into buckets of rain ("il pleut comme une vache qui pisse comes to mind"). i still had luck on my side because the next morning i was greeted by an amazing sunrise. i made it to lake matheson before the winds disrupted the lake waters so that i could see firsthand the mirror effect of mt. cook and mt. tasman (see the first photo at the top of the blog entry). i also made it before the busload of kiwi experience teenagers came to ruin the serenity. i hit gillespies beach and finally found the crashing waves of new zealand (the east coast waves are definitely smaller). i then made it to fox glacier and tramped right up to the terminal face. unfortunately, i ate it big time crossing one of the rushing streams that feed into fox river and twisted my ankle, which effectively ended my tramping day. pretty much not pretty handy, but at least it came at the end of my tramping itinerary. i next headed down to queenstown, driving with my injured foot on the gas pedal and my left foot on the brake pedal. dangerous, i know, but it hurt too much to move my right foot back and forth.near punakaiki and at the terminal face of fox glacier, i found some classic kiwi signs. i will say, after these many days of being on the road, the kiwis do have great road signs that clearly explain what i should be aware of on the road. and not just great fun signs like warning me of a potential penguin crossing but also what kind of turns to expect on the road ahead. you may have to zoom in on the first photo below, but that's right, you may catch your bike tire in a rut and fall headfirst over the handlebars. and this sign depicts what almost happened to me, except my fall wasn't due to being hit by falling ice/white rocks.

ferry shenanigans

the 18th was my last day of work at Craggy Range and i temporarily bid adieu to hawke's bay today as i headed on a tour of the south island and its wineries. before i get into the exact nature of the shenanigans, i must post one last photo of the kopanga crew (from left to right, me, Katy, Marine, and Brittany) on our last dinner together at Terroir Restaurant. besides the absolutely scrumptious dinner (braised Wagyu short ribs for me) and delectable wines (hate to name drop but a '00 Bouchard Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Le Cailleret, '95 L'Arlot Grand Cru Romanee Saint-Vivant, and '02 Chateau Suduiraut 1er Cru Sauternes), we even got sparklers. i know, i know, name-dropping is a sin but i couldn't help myself...

even before our last day, the kopanga crew went on a date with each other and went horse-back riding in Waimarama (where i had previously taken the photos of the sheep on the road). if you're ever out at Waimarama, i would definitely recommend Waimarama Horse Treks. the horses are beautiful, the guides are awesome, and they let you canter/gallop on the open beach. i hadn't been running on a horse since i was 14 or so...good times.
so after some frantic last minute packing, i headed off to wellington to catch the ferry to the south island. my father taught me well, so i was about 2 hours early (you do have to check-in by 1 hour before departure). i thought i had turned my car off all the way and was happily checking out my itinerary and reading the newspaper. lo and behold, when it was time to drive onto the ferry, my car wouldn't start. note to self, if you let the radio run for 2 hours, make sure that you've turned the car off to the last setting and don't let the car battery run. i was completely embarassed as i had to wait for the ferry people to bring over jumper cables, while a line of cars were probably wondering why they weren't being allowed to board even though they got there quite early. just further prooves my theory that bad things happen to me in twos. dear earl's (my car's name... little white nissan pulsar with the lil' engine that could) battery had died a couple of weeks earlier when the lights were left on for the entire work day (although that wasn't my doing but we won't quibble over minor details)! eventually i made it onto the ferry and got to see this delightful sight as we entered the home stretch before docking in picton.

more to come of my adventures on the south island, but first another addition to my miniature winery run by oompa-loompas...a tiny centrifugal pump found at Clearview Winery in hawke's bay.p.s. i've decided to work vintage at Patz & Hall (thanks Nate!) in napa in order to lock down some california winery experience. yeah that's right, i've actually not worked in california yet.

pretty much not pretty handy

craggy range's te muna vineyards in martinborough
our neighboring cows seen one foggy morning on the work to craggy range's sh50 facility or "shfifty" as we like to call it now.
craggy range's gimblett gravels vineyards robed in fall colors as seen from the top of the 80000L tanks.

yeah! the last of the fruit has arrived at craggy range! i'm actually going to be starting at 8am from now instead of 7:30am. i know it's only 30 minutes difference, but it makes a big difference when you work long days. i'm feeling pretty good in my cellaring techniques too now...so much so that i definitely feel ready to work my 1st vintage in california!

as for the title of this blog entry...our beloved french intern/roommate, marine, made a comment to the assistant winemaker (matt stafford...aka staf...aka dodgy) about the lids on the 8000L wooden cuves as being "not pretty handy". i know it's not correct english, but it's stuck in my head and we at the kopanga house have started using it ALL the time especially in conjunction with "pretty much" which we've taken from napoleon dynamite. we've also taken to bits from dane cook's retaliation cd. it's great to yell "where's the !@#$ van?!?" and "the van was supposed to be here" when you're really frustrated. "monkey?!?" and "i'm in the closet" has also become our call signs when we're trying to find each other at the winery.

in other news, one day, i woke up and it was fall in new zealand. the greatest thing about it (especially since autumn is my favorite season) is that the fall colors are quite beautiful and totally reminiscent of new england. makes me a little homesick until i read about all the shootings that are occuring back home...tragic and unforgiveable is all i can come up with.

on a more upbeat note, i did find a tiny karcher (i.e. pressure washer) that i think will go wonderfully with the tiny filter i found in germany in 2005. wouldn't it be great to have a tiny winery run by oompa-loompa cellar hands.