This weekend marked the end official end of crush and the start of the “pressing season”. On Saturday we crushed the last of our grapes for 2008, 2 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon from Lewis Family Vinyards. On Sunday we pressed the first of the Syrah and the first of the Cabernet Franc. Also we moved the first Merlot to barrel.
All in all a very busy weekend for the crew.
Another early day. Jason gets up early and starts the prep for crush and I meet him about 7:30am. We actually crank through our setup and get things going quite early…ready to go by about 9:00am, well ahead of our projections.
The crush goes very well and we are done relatively quickly, finishing early afternoon.
– Bob
Fuel for the Troops
Cleaning the Crusher
Jason and I got up early and I drove him down to the truck rental pick-up. Got the keys to the truck and then inspected the white truck which was not the yellow truck that Jason had previewed a couple of days earlier for size and usability. Turns out the white truck, although newish and quite nice, is a little skinny and we are both very concerned the harvest bins won’t fit. We measure twice and even look at the yellow truck parked next to our white truck. We talk with the rental truck manager and unfortunately all the yellow trucks are rented. Technically the bins should fit but it will be extra work to get them to fit and in the back of our minds we are a little worried they might not. They apologize, offer a discount and then Jason is on his way… almost.
First we must put the pallet jack in the back so Jason can move around the bins after they are loaded. We lower the lift gate and Jason and I both look at each other and say, “where is the lift gate? What’s this tiny half gate?” The lift gate is a little short, about half the size we hoped and about 1.5 feet shorter then the width of the bin. Long story short and note to self - make sure to rent the yellow truck not the white truck :-).
Jason makes it to Alder Ridge vineyard in good time and picks up 4 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon, 1.5 tons of Cabernet Franc and some bins for our friends in Sodo. It takes a little doing but he is able to pallet jack the bins in the truck side by side. It’s tight but our friends have a fork lift and they might be able to help us re-arrange the bins after we drop off their grapes. After dropping off a few bins for our friends Alex and Jim, follow Jason back to the winery to help us unload.
Now the fun… Jason calls and tells me he is close and gets back to the winery about 6pm. The first bins to come off are just singles and Alex and Jim have figured out a system to get them off with the small lift gate. The bins hang off the end of the gate about a foot and a half, and if we lower the gate slowly, there are no problems. Then we get to the the stacked bins.
Jason, Alex and I maneuver the double bins weighing a ton or just over a ton slowly on to the lift gate. Easing the set out a few inches at a time. We do this partly because of the weight and limited sight but also because the pallet jack keeps getting stuck on the uneven truck bed and lift gate connection. As we have the double bins finally on the gate and clear of the bed, Jason and I hold on to the top bin pulling slightly back into the truck. We are all worried as the gate lowers and moves away from the truck slightly, that the top bin will come tumbling down. But with a little luck all works out.
After more man handling and a few mini heart attacks, we get all the bins off the truck and loaded neatly on the crush pad for tomorrow’s work…
–Bob
