I’ve been really wanting to learn different aspects of the wine industry.  I’m an old pro in the tasting room, and even though I love that line of work and could easily be happy with another tasting room job, I’m being proactive in trying out new sides of the wine biz.  This weekend, I had the opportunity to help one of my favorite wineries, Winderlea on their bottling line.  Bill Sweat (owner/proprietor), Cheney (assistant to the assistant wine maker) and Lydia (intern) are pictured below having a rowdy time packing boxes.

We took all their 09s from the barrel to the bottle.  It was hard work and my back and thumbs (weird, I know) are sore today, but I really had a blast and made some new friends.  I’m looking forward to working Crush (when the ripe grapes come in from off the vine and are essentially sorted, pressed, and put into fermentation tanks, then aging tanks or barrels) with them as well.

No matter what side of the wine industry you’re on, from wine drinker to wine maker, the weather is a key player in the vintage bounty.  September is usually one of the sunniest months of the year in Oregon which is what those vines count on to ripen the grapes that make fantastic wine. This September hasn’t quite cooperated…

On Saturday when we were bottling, we got a lot of this:

It continued to downpour when I got home that evening which made for an achy, cozy evening watching the Two Fat Ladies and Project Runway.  But it also means that the harvest is 3 weeks late and the yield is nearly 50% of what it could be.

But on Sunday when we were bottling, it looked more like this outside:

Wine maker, winery owner, bottling crew, assistant winemaker, vineyard owners, and grapes alike rejoiced in the sunshine! We all hustled (everyone except the grapes, that is) to get done by 1:00 to enjoy the rest of the sunny day before the rains came back that night.  Since we were in Carlton, a couple of us did a round of tastings at Seven of Hearts (this tasting rooms shares space with Honest Chocolates so they had home made Pinot truffles to pair with their wines!  And their Coupe’s Cuvee dessert Pinot Noir was to die for!), WildAire Cellars (Wine maker Matt Driscoll was watching football and playing his guitar when we walked in.  Sorry to interrupt!), Folin Cellars (some nice Southern Oregon wines), and Alexana (Dundee Hills will always have a soft spot in my heart).  I’m always a little torn having to leave and drive back into Portland.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I feel so at home in wine country.  I found 3 Oregon wine jobs on Winejobs.com so keep your palms together or your fingers crossed for me!