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...