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.

sheepish traffic jam

well, it's official. i am in new zealand! i was on my way to waimarama beach when i got stopped on the road due to newly shorn sheep being herded down the road. just has to put a smile on your face. in other news, for the past week i have been working at the Giants facility of Craggy Range Winery working pumpovers for the merlot fermentations that will be going into their Sophia wine. my pumpover partner, katy (roomie 1), and i have worked out a system so that we can switch cuves as fast as a NASCAR pit crew changes tires. it's a whole different ballgame at Giants because this facility is connected to their Cellar Door and their Terroir Restaurant, which means that we have to be on our best behavior and there is no room for big messes. it also means that sometimes we get interrupted by tours passing through or magazine photo shoots. definitely cuts into your time when you've got more than 20 pumpovers to do in a day!
on the flip side, we miss terribly our other 2 roommates and the rest of the crew that are over at the SH50 facility. we also missed an awesome display of rainbows that were photographed by brittany (roomie 2).
and 1 final photo of my fellow roomies (from left to right, marine, katy, me, michael scorsone visiting from california, and brittany) as we dined at Terroir Restaurant before we got put on separate shifts.

insert creative title here

ahhh...a day off...great after working 7 days of 12+ hour shifts. my feet thank me for not putting on those kiwi work boots and my hands thank me for not having to wrap themselves around 2” hoses. and yes, graham, a 2” hose is no longer my nemesis. i’ve upgraded to the 3” hose, especially when full of juice and with a big honkin’ ball valve that weighs about 10kg on one end. so we started receiving contract grapes from delegates wine estate, which has been great for me to hone my cellar skills before we get going on the big guns or craggy fruit. i must remember in the future to be very wary of a winery that has a contract crush because that delegates fruit has been the source of many frustrations. and just when we thought they were done, they come back to inform us that they “found” about 200 tons of fruit...yep, you heard me right. well at least i get some giggles in whenever those kiwis walk or ride by with their short shorts on!

i’ve also moved into the girls vintage house as we like to call it. it’s a quirky house but with a sweet garden filled with chard, rocket, mint, basil, scallions, lemons, and feijoas (the best fruit in the world according to most kiwis). i’m living with the aforementioned french girl, Marine, and with 2 californians (Katy and Brittany) that graduated from cal poly. it’s been awesome working with those 2 because i’m definitely learning a lot from them.

there’s really not much else to add because all i’ve been doing is working, working, and more working. i believe it’ll get much more exciting in terms of learning and actually seeing awesome fruit now that we’ll be starting to harvest craggy grapes. oh yeah, a note about the top photo. we got a storm front that came in and dropped buckets of rain on us. but before that happened, i was on the outside catwalk taking a dip (volume measurement) of the 80,000L tank when i looked up and saw this sweet view, complete with a hot air balloon in the distance. even though i was wicked tired, it brought a grin to my face because let’s face it, i’m working vintage in new zealand!