Domaine Serene Harvest 2011

Harvest 2011 Is In The Books!

2011-11-14T12:48:00.000-08:00

The early part of the 2011 growing season was marked by a prolonged La Nina cycle, which brought cooler than average temperatures to the Pacific Northwest. As a result, the North Willamette Valley experienced cooler than average temperatures in the spring and early summer, which delayed both bud break and flowering. Bud break occurred in early April, followed by bloom in late June through early July. Cooler than average temperatures persisted in the summer, but under very pleasant and dry conditions. The La Nina cycle began to subside in the middle of the summer and veraison (the onset of color change) took place during the latter portion of August. Conditions in September were nearly picture perfect for ripening, with above average temperatures and dry conditions. The first half of October was fairly wet, but true Indian Summer conditions rolled in during the second half of the month and allowed for a protracted finish to the growing season. - Erik Kramer, Winemaker

Winemaker, Erik Kramer, Discusses Fermentation Management

2011-10-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

We Are Ready!

2011-10-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

What can I say about Domaine Serene for this 2011 vintage? WE ARE READY! The team, permanents and interns, had enough time to make their mark and tell the winemaker what they would like to perform for this promising vintage. The tanks and barrels are clean and ready, and I’m proud to say that I’m no longer in our big, but really practical, facility. It was really nice to have time to explore this wonderful part of Oregon and taste what the wineries of the Willamette Valley have to offer while we waited for the fruit and ff course, to enjoy our stay at “The Ritz”, our wonderful vineyard house. Ah, but now the fruit is here! Let’s get this vintage started Team Serene … and remember: Only the Best! – Alex, Harvest Intern

Grace Evenstad Discusses Hand Sorting

2011-10-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

I can eat croissants every morning!

2011-10-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

After 10 tons of Syrah about two weeks ago we had been waiting for grapes till Monday the 17th of October, which obviously means the winery is spotless and more than ready to receive fruit. Thanks to that delay, Erick Kramer, the winemaker, had much more time to talk with the interns, he explained how he wants to work, for him the different coopers of barrels have a real influence on the wine, and he showed us how to sample in the vineyard. Our point of view is very important for him.

We are about to start our third busy day today, the two previous days preceded very well: The grapes came in very healthy and full of flavor; the team works well together and the cook is very good. The meals are very tasty, croissants every morning. I am French, and this is the first time abroad, I can eat croissants every morning! - Mathieu Delarbre, Harvest Intern

This place is … wow ….

2011-10-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

My first experience of Domaine Serene is when I walked into The Ritz (the intern accommodation). This place is ….wow….the words ‘luxurious, opulent and generous’ spring to mind. I asked Rachel (as she had just picked me up from Portland and the airport – thanks Rach, you’re the best!) “is this really the INTERN accommodation?? This place is way too flash!!” As it turns out it is and I am very thankful for the extremely comfortable and relaxing accommodation, I know we will be very well looked after here.

It has been about five weeks since I started here at Domaine Serene. In this time we have spent a lot of time preparing the winery for when the grapes come in. Cleaning everything so it is completely spotless, preparing the new barrels ready for when we have to rack the finished Pinot Noir and sampling the grapes in the vineyards to get an accurate representation of what is happening to the grapes flavour and sugar wise has served nicely as a lead in to this harvest. We are all very excited, just like when we were kids waiting for Christmas! - Peter McGeehan, Harvest Intern

First Fruit of 2011

2011-10-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

Let the Games Begin!

2011-10-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

This year’s harvest is indeed right around the corner. We’re anticipating an exciting beginning to the 2011 vintage today! Domaine Serene’s first scheduled pick this year is clone 777 from our Jerusalem Hill Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills. The weeks preceding the commencement of harvest have been interesting to observe. At this point, the season has been somewhat comparable to 2010 in terms of grapevine phenology (e.g. budbreak, flowering, etc.). September was very generous in terms of sunlight and degree days. October has been cooler and slowed down development slightly. However, we have seen very good flavor and tannin development is skins and seeds. Our observations in the field have shown that flavor development has well surpassed sugar development – a positive and welcome attribute of this cool vintage. Right now, I am very optimistic about what 2011 has to offer and I believe the wines may be comparable to 2010 (wines with good flavor, balanced richness and structure). We’ll simply have to wait and see how things unfold. Let the games begin! - Erik Kramer, Winemaker

2010 Vintage Recap

2010-12-11T14:04:00.001-08:00

The 2010 growing season was one of the longest on record, with early bud break followed by late bloom and the latest harvest start in our 21 years of winemaking. Yes, it was a cool vintage, but that is one of the things that makes Oregon so special; it focuses flavors and intensifies the structure of our wines. Our continued commitment to dry farming gives us vines with deep root systems that contribute to the natural resilience of the plants themselves as well as to the soil structure. Cool weather, combined with longer hang-time provided slow, even development, free from heat spikes, giving us wines of elegance and finesse. Through clonal diversity, exacting vineyard management, and meticulous winemaking techniques we feel that the 2010’s have achieved wonderful flavor development, age-worthy acid structure, well developed tannins and the lower alcohols commonly associated with Oregon wines. Yes, 2010 will have lower alcohol without sacrificing flavor. Only nature can pull this off with elegance and balance.

Short, sweet and delicious!

2010-11-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

Ken and Grace’s Thanksgiving dinner! By far the highlight of harvest meals happened today. Turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, curry peas, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. Complete with pumpkin pie and ice cream! Spoiled, full and happy. Delicious… Back to the grapes! - Rachel Zasdani, Lab QC Technician

Purple hands and pumpkin pie!

2010-11-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

It’s getting so exciting. Today I had to come early in the morning to check Brix and temperatures. It was dark, scary and foggy around the vineyards I walk through. First grapes we got were syrah and most of it is still fermenting. My hands are all purple after the shift. All the punchdowns and pumpovers are waiting for me and Akiko. I love punching down the syrah, too bad it’s almost over and we have to press it soon. It looks great and we are proud of it, because we worked hard to push down the cap twice every day. Now, it’s pinot’s turn! Maybe I’ll get to do some barrel work today after lunch. We still have some new barrels to prepare and season.

I’m glad I can be off almost the whole afternoon every day, so I can have a rest in the Ritz. Last weekend I got to work, but only on Saturday and enjoyed a rainy Sunday off. Weather is getting crazy around here, you can spot a rainbow during the day and then see a lighting at night. But I’m sure we’ll get some good weather this week. Grapes still need sun.

Oh, and I love our cook. Yesterday we had the best tacos I have ever tasted. Thank you, James! Please do the sweet potatoes dish again, oh and the white chocolate brownies… and the pumpkin pie!! - Lidyia, Harvest Intern

Harvest has properly arrived!

2010-10-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

Finally! It’s been a late one up here in Oregon. Pinot is rolling in by the tons, literally. Guadalupe Vineyard arrived first, with Legacy Hill a close second. It smells and feels like Harvest 2010, with our Syrah fermenting happily, Pinot Noir cold soaking and Chardonnay being pressed. Needless to say, we’re quite busy around the winery. We’ve even found time for bottling our 2008 Winery Hill, with prized 2008 Monogram in line for tomorrow. Happy harvesting! Ready. Set. GO! - Rachel Zasadni, Lab QC Technician

Fruit at last!

2010-10-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

Starting October 4th we are finally getting our hands red and sticky. We received Syrah from Seven Hills Vineyard, Walla Walla Oregon, and it looked beautiful. All of us in the cellar are very excited to get the ball rolling on harvest and make some fine wines for the 2010 vintage. We are ready to fill all our perfectly cleaned tanks with juice and must. Cheers to the start of 2010 vintage. Pinot is next! – Robin, Harvest Intern

We are waiting for you, Grapes!

2010-10-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe it’s been almost 2 months since I arrived in Oregon. All of us interns are getting ready for harvest. Everything in the winery should be shining before receiving any fruit. Our first grape experience in Domaine Serene will be syrah. This is one of my favorite varieties, by the way. I just love its complex aroma and deep color. We already got some samples of the grapes from Walla Walla Valley and the rose colored juice looked wonderful. So after a few weeks of bottling it is nice to have a break and work on some vintage preparation. We split into teams to be more efficient and I think we are doing really well and moving quickly. Moving around all our picking bins and fermentation tubs provide forklift practice since most of us are still beginners. It’s a very useful, but dangerous vehicle. Be careful everyone and always wear your seat belt! We are getting excited to know what everyone’s harvest assignment will be. I know there will be more than enough work for all of us once those grapes arrive.

Domaine Serene provides wonderful housing, just a vineyard’s stroll away from the winery. We walk up the hill every day to the cellar so by the time we start working we are already warmed up. It is actually very beautiful to walk by the vineyards and see how they ripen day by day.
This past weekend was our last whole weekend off. We explored the area, recharged our batteries and got ready for the impending Syrah!

It is my forth vintage, but my first one in Oregon and I can’t wait to see the whole process between grapes and wine in this region. – Lidyia, Harvest Intern

Harvest Interns 2010!

2010-09-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

The Domaine Serene Harvest Intern Program attracts the best of the best from around the world. Here is our Intern Class of 2010!

Josh Smith arrived from Santa Cruz, CA on August 3, 2010 officially becoming our first intern for the 2010 Harvest. Originally from Orange County, CA, Josh has been attending UC-Santa Cruz., majoring in molecular, cell, and developmental biology. He attended a lecture that Eleni gave earlier this year and successfully secured a spot for his first harvest in the wine industry.

Lidyia Pelova joins us from Bulgaria fresh off a harvest at Drylands Winery in New Zealand. Lidia graduated from University of Food Technologies Plovdiv, Bulgaria with a major in fermentation science. She has worked for a winery in Bulgaria and for Oenofrance Bulgaria, a company for enological products. This is her third visit to the United States.

Robin Hawley has most recently worked a vintage in New Zealand with Mud House Wines. Robin graduated from Oregon State University with a Masters in Genetics but has been in the wine industry for a while now. She has worked the previous 5 years in Oregon with King Estate Winery.

Sylvain Mussigmann (Harvest Enologist) joins us from southern France via a recent harvest in New Zealand with Mud House Wines. Sylvain graduated from Pharmacy University in Montpellier with a Masters in Oenology. He has worked nine previous vintages in France and around the world, including wineries in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Alsace.

Colin Rudy is a Texan. Like many other Texans, he likes (good) wine a lot. He got hooked on wine while studying Spanish in Spain and while working in the restaurant industry. While he believes his future is on the sales and marketing end of the wine industry, he has very much enjoyed spending time on the production end. He has worked two previous harvests, one in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma at Merry Edwards, and one in McLaren Vale, Australia at Mollydooker.

Akiko Shiba is Japanese, originally from Tokyo. She spent 8 years in Germany studying Oenology and Viticulture in Geisenheim, and worked at several wineries in Rheingau, Rheinhessen, Nahe and Baden. Akiko arrived in the US in April 2009 and moved to Oregon. She worked the previous year at St Innocent winery.

Tim Wilson (Harvest Enologist): Originally from Minnesota and armed with a degree in economics, Tim initially embarked on a career in the banking industry. Quickly tiring of life in a cubicle, his interest in science and love of fine wine ultimately led to CSU Fresno, where he completed a B.Sc. in enology. His years of winemaking experience include stops in Seattle and San Luis Obispo, but it was his commitment to pinot noir that brought him to the Willamette Valley.

Bottles, Barrels and Beds ... Oh My!

2010-09-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Evenstad Reserve is days away from being completely bottled, which is a celebratory occasion and a sigh of relief for all of us. The bottling line requires our full attention for the better part of the day and It typically involves a lot of “hurry up and wait” tactics. Ah, but when no problems arise, the fast paced work makes the day fly by. Aside from bottling we have been busy at work sampling and labeling 2009 Pinot Noir barrels, as well receiving new barrels from our French coopers. The barrel receiving process takes the entire team to unload and thoroughly inspect each barrel inside and out for anything that could have a negative effect on the wine.

When not bottling wine or inspecting barrels, our focus shifts to the extensive pre-harvest checklist, which consists of examining and cleaning everything involved in the harvest and fermentation process. Due to the late harvest this year, we are able to spend that extra time to double check and be extra prepared for when the grapes arrive … hopefully very soon.

The interns, me included, are all moved in to our house which is walking distance from the winery. We cannot thank the Evenstad's enough for the lodgings. The 2010 interns represent 4 states (California, Oregon, Washington, and Texas) and 4 countries (Bulgaria, France, Australia and Japan). Akiko, our intern from Japan, does not live in the house with us, but in a local town. Since none of us are locals, there has been no shortage of exploring the sights of this part of Oregon as well as some local wine tasting. I think I can speak for us all when I say we have been very impressed with both.

This is my very first harvest and I'm getting extremely excited for the incoming grapes. Bring it on! - Joshua Smith, Harvest intern

Bottling! Always an adventure!

2010-08-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

This week Domaine Serene Production has been jam packed with transferring our 2008 Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir into bottle, corked and capsuled for your drinking pleasure. If you’re curious of what bottling is like, just think back to Laverne and Shirley. Perhaps that should be the Harvest tee-shirt theme?

It has been a busy week in the cellar and in the lab. Along with bottling fun, blends have been arranged. Barrel recipes have been carefully pieced together, one milliliter at a time, and the 2009 Yamhill Cuvee and 2009 Evenstad Reserve Blends have been finalized. All the individual lot samples of 100ml each are scattered throughout the lab for tasting. It is truly a spectrum of pinot! - Rachel Zasadni , Laboratory Technician

Cheers to 2009!

2009-11-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

The Domaine Serene 2009 vintage will be completely pressed off in a matter of days. The winery is buzzing with excitement in anticipation of regular days off.

We are currently one intern down as Emmanuel has returned to France to finish up a school project. He received news a week before he left that his school was actually closed because of the swine flu. We all tried to convince him to stay a little longer until the flu was clear, but I think he was set on seeing his girlfriend, which tells me that in France, love is much more important than getting sick. Needless to say, we all miss Emmanuel and wish him the best.

With the presses no longer running, we have a lot of man power to focus on my favorite part of harvest … BARRELING DOWN! Our barrel cellar is completely organized with barrels waiting to be filled with the 2009 bounty. Since we use over 15 different coopers with multiple timbers and toasts, it can be quite a challenge getting everything organized. Then again, it’s nothing a week on a forklift can’t take care of. Cheers to 2009! - Justin Cox, Cellar Assistant

A Day Off?

2009-10-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

36 hours. It’s not quite a weekend, but in the middle of a busy harvest I imaged it to be akin to the rumspringa tradition. Leaving the “farm” on a Friday night and knowing I did not have to be back until 10am on Sunday was a wonderful and anxious feeling. Anxious in the sense that there is always work to be done during an eventful harvest and wonderful since it was my first day off since September 20th! There is so much to accomplish in such a short amount of time. Perhaps sleep, talk to family and friends long since neglected for grapes. Maybe some laundry?

In my case all of this fell by the wayside in favor of the Oregon Kickball Club tournament weekend! Forget resting up and making sure you stay fit and healthy to finish out another vintage, it’s time to stand in the field and get soaking wet and slip and slide around en route to a championship game. Fortunately, I play for a fantastic team with an amazing cast of characters that there was no hesitation that this day, October 17th, and this day alone would be the one I asked off for.

As we have begun rotating through days off here and there I think we now realize that being away from the “farm” not only gives you the chance to tell the tale of the tireless hours that go into creating Domaine Serene wine but to reflect on how the vintage is unfolding, and how important it is to have balance not only in your wine, but also in your life! - Sam Poehlman, Lab & QC Technician

2009-10-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

Today is the best day of harvest so far ... the last day of 2009 fruit processing! It is a little strange and slightly unbelievable that it is actually here. All of the fruit for 2009 is in! It was a fabulous day to end things as well and we were able to process both whites and reds. There were three lots of Chardonnay from our "Cote Sud" vineyard and three lots from the "Mark Bradford" vineyard. We were also treated to a fabulous lunch that Ken and Grace cooked for us and a wonderful Champagne toast at the end of the day. To say the least, it's weird that it is finally over.

Fruit receival went really smooth this year thanks to so many hard workers. I really can't thank our amazing interns enough. They sorted the fruit at the beginning and then our amazing temps sorted it till the end. Truly a team effort. Also a HUGE thank you to Nick and Chris for their hard work. Nick was an amazing fork lift driver and got along really well with the temps. He made them feel at home and always tried to boost their moral when they felt a bit "burned out". He told me one day, “I would go stand in the middle of the room on my head if I knew it would help out”.

Chris also did an amazing job receiving the grapes at the bottom of our slide and getting them into the different fermenters. He also dealt with countless one ton plastic ferments ... always a little trying. I think we ended up having more than 150. I also cannot forget to thank the vineyard crew. They made it so easy to communicate and get a better idea of when the grapes were arriving day to day, which made things run very smoothly. They also had such a cheerful , happy attitude every time they delivered the grapes. Maybe it was because they knew they to were closer to the end with each drop off.

I feel so lucky that I was able to be apart of fruit receival this year. I feel like my knowledge of the process for when grapes come into a winery and when they end up in a bottle is a bit more rounded. You get to taste grapes from each vineyard - the acid, the sweetness, the tannins - and then follow them throughout the year to see how the grapes change and grow into fine wine. I feel like I was able to be apart of the "toddler years" of the amazing wine that is to come. Even though some days were taxing and difficult, it was all worth it in the end.

Thank you so much to everyone. But now, even though it was one small ending in the grand scheme of harvest, time to get back to work. - Katie Santora, Cellar Assistant

2009-10-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

No fruit coming this last Tuesday. It was half-time break, as we can see on the big harvest calendar in the lab. Half of the grapes are in tank, half of the grapes are still ripening in the vineyard. I can tell you that this year’s harvest is very tasty. I tasted them on the sorting line and in the vineyard when I was sampling at the beginning of harvest. Sampling, I love this particular job! The Dundee Hills are so gorgeous. I sampled early the morning and I saw the sun rise above the Willamette Valley mist. I am French (sorry for my English), so I have the culture of terroir. For me, in the great vines terroir, there is a beautiful light. With their red volcanic soil and this light, the Dundee Hills are definitely made for vineyards. How I can describe the Evenstad Estate? Magic! There are vines in every direction except on the North slope. From the top of the Côte Sud vineyard you can see Mount Hood. Grace vineyard, Gold Eagle vineyard and Clos du Soleil are on the East Slop. Here, the sun is so sweet in the morning, but my favourite vineyard is Mark Bradford on the West slope. The Pommard Clone is so tasty from these vines.

I am part of the Domaine Serene Dream Team (the Night Team) with Kelley, Lauren and Shri. All of us miss our boss (and the daylight) a lot. We work well with Griffin and he is a great cellar master. Usually, we start at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and finish between midnight and five o’clock the next morning. It depends on how busy the day is. For example, punch down and pump over are a long process every night. Maceration and fermentation are made in small tanks to keep every block of vines (different locations, different clones, different rootstocks…) separated so that Domaine Serene can find exquisite and consistent blendings to make Yamhill Cuvée and Evenstad Reserve. Punch down and pump over are interesting jobs. You can smell and see how maceration and fermentation are progressing.

I miss the other interns working on the day team too. Still, we remain one big team in spirit. We built a strong complicity before the harvest rush. It is just fantastic to live and to talk about wines and life with young people from all over the world. We have a very good relationship with the full-time Domaine Serene staff and a real bond. It is sweet to work as a team to produce the best wine we can. I particularly love to work with Katie on the sorting line, to help Chris filling the tanks, and to smash grapes for Sam’s samples in the lab.

I come from the Loire Valley. My parents are winemakers in Anjou. They produce notably Chenin blanc and Cabernet in the Family Estate called Domaine Ogereau It is very funny to process fruit here at Domaine Serene and to follow harvest at home by phone at the same time. The weekly call to my parents (between presses) lasts at least a half an hour because of my Dad’s numerous questions. I am very lucky. It seems to be a great vintage on both sides of the Atlantic: Willamette Valley and Anjou. I have definitely had a great time in Oregon and I’m already a bit sad that I Will soon leave this place and these great people at the beginning of November. It is too short! – Emmanuel Ogereau, Harvest Intern

Harvest Fuel ... Kentucky Butter Cake!

2009-10-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

This year we have 8 interns from around the world, and 2 shifts each of 8 or so temporary employees on the sorting line helping our regular production crew of 5. Over the years there have been favorite recipes that everyone likes. I have been requested to blog some of these.

My Kentucky Butter Cake recipe came to me 30 years ago from my sister-in-law, Suzie Evenstad. It is a buttery pound cake without frosting, and was the perfect cake to Fed Ex every year to our kids, Serene and Mark, for their birthdays when they were away at college. I would package it up with candles and unblown balloons and birthday banners with love and kisses. It travels well in its bundt pan and doesn’t get stale. – Grace Evenstad

KENTUCKY BUTTER CAKE

3 Cups sifted flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Combine these ingredients in small bowl and set aside

1 Cup room temp butter

2 Cups sugar

Cream together in large mixing bowl with electric beater

1 Cup buttermilk

2 tsp pure vanilla

Combine and set aside

To the butter and sugar mixture in the large bowl add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then, add your set-aside dry ingredients, alternately with your buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and beating after each addition.

Pour into buttered bundt pan or 9x13 pan and bake in 325 degree oven for 60-65 minutes. Run spatula along edge of pan. Prick cake several times with a fork, and pour sauce over the cake.

SAUCE

Heat in saucepan:

1 Cup sugar
½ Cup butter

¼ Cup water

When melted together and sugar is dissolved, add

1 T. vanilla

1 T. rum flavor

Pour sauce slowly over cake. It will all soak in.

For harvest, make 2 or 3 cakes

Sticky, sweet, and yummy!

2009-09-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

Berries! They arrive by the bucket load from the vineyard all for me to analyze. And what a process it is. Upon arrival we will note berry size, color, cluster formation, and even all of our friendly and helpful ladybugs. The exact same meticulous and gentle care with which we treat all of our fruit in the cellar must also be observed in the lab. Every day we spend at least 2 hours gently popping individual pristine berries from our many vineyards and blocks. Once every berry is popped we do a cold soak in the fridge in order to simulate the famous pre-fermentation Domaine Serene cold soaks that our lots will undergo during processing. After the cold soak is complete the real fun begins; TAs, Brix, pH, and tasting!

All of this analysis allows us to make picking decisions that will optimize the flavor and potential of the grapes. This process also makes the lab a veritable brain trust during the harvest months. If you want to really know what’s going on and where the action is, forget the crush pad … come to the lab! Not only will you get the latest info on picking decisions and analysis numbers, but you can also get a thrilling play by play of the latest Badgers (Wisconsin) or Ducks (Oregon) football games. And please pardon the sticky floors and counters (there is a complete scrub down about 4 times a day … feel free to help out). And be sure to be especially kind to the many ladybugs, or “coccinelle” in French. Clearly the lab is also a place to learn other languages. – Sam Poehlman, Lab & QC Technician.

2009-09-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

Let the rituals begin. If you have a beard you shaved it, and if you are courageous, a buzzed head will always do the trick. It is funny even to see myself beardless. I barely recognize the clean shave. My mother would be happy to see my clean face. We received our first fruit of the harvest this week. For fun we weighed in to see who loses or gains the most weight during the hard long days of harvest. We all rocked the new 09’ Harvest Team shirts. Sixteen tons of Syrah came from the Seven Hills Vineyard in Walla Walla AVA. The day one of processing for harvest went smooth and we all had the hang of it by mid-day. It helped that by that time, our stomachs were full and we were happy. Ken, Grace, and company cooked some great food pulled pork, cornbread, coleslaw, and a warm plum tart to satisfy the sweet tooth and fill the stomach. I feel spoiled getting fed throughout harvest, but absolutely no complaints from my end. I met Sean today too. Sean will be our "chef de harvest"; I am curious what is in store for the menus.

It has been so beautiful out. It felt like autumn was coming last week, but this week it is a taste of summer again. This week is mid nineties and high eighties. Perfect. Well it could turn everything ripe all at once. I just heard mention of some California winery getting sixty five tons all in one day. Will this happen to us? If it does, we are prepared. We have a day team and a night team. Processing will run around the clock if necessary. Day team 6 to 6, Night team 6 to 6. We all know what our assigned jobs and tasks are to make this a successful harvest. Receiving, processing, inoculating, temps and brix monitoring, punch downs, pump overs, racking, pressing, and barreling down. Bring it on! - By Nick Sansone, Harvest Intern

Sorting the Syrah ...

2009-09-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

2009-09-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

I am very excited to get my hands purple again. I have worked in New York’s Hudson River Valley making wine. I moved out to the Portland area just over three months ago and plan to establish myself in the winemaking community here in Oregon. Oregon (pronounced Or-e-gun, not Or-e-gone for all my fellow east coasters) is a great change in lifestyle and will allow me to learn as much as I can. So far it has been beautiful.

Life is all about experiences. After a twenty day cross country trip, I spent three weeks looking for work and checking out the city and Oregon’s beautiful Northern Coast. I have secured a serving position at Farm to Fork Restaurant, open only fourteen weeks, and I’ve been there since day one. I'm working at the custom crush facility, 12th and Maple, doing bottling, Barrel racking and blending 08 Pinot Noirs at Torii Mor Winery with Jacque Tardy and Jon Tommeselli, and now working hard again and living on the property of Domaine Serene. I would say everything has gone as planned. Hit a bump here and there, but can not complain. - By Nick Sansone, Harvest Intern

2009-09-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

“The true story of seven strangers, all living and working under one roof at the world famous Domaine Serene Vineyards and Winery”… While MTV’s “The Real World” will probably never make it to the Dundee Hills, America’s original reality TV program does have certain parallels to starting life at Domaine Serene. Of the seven interns currently sharing space we represent three countries, two genders, varying degrees of experience, and one common love; great wine. Our residence is lovingly referred to as “The Ritz” and the highlight so far has to be the culinary expertise and diversity of our housemates. We are lucky to have two French natives (always food critics and experts), an Indian Curry master, and even a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. I recommend the Eggs Florentine ... divine. Between the 7 of us we have already run through our first tank of propane on the BBQ. The weather has been beautiful. - By Alex Kenzler, Harvest Intern

Another Great Vintage!

2009-09-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

We are possibly three weeks away from another fabulous vintage at Domaine Serene Winery! The weather this summer has been beautiful and the fall seems to feel like it has already crept into the valley creating very cool nights and bringing in our beautiful fall colors into the Northwest. Eleni and I were able to walk through our Legacy Hill Vineyard earlier this week and things are definitely moving along there as sugar levels are already at 19 degrees Brix (% sugar). I have no doubt that we will some great Pinot Noir this vintage and we will likely see it before the month is over.

Before harvest is here we have a lot of things to get done at the winery. We will begin blending on our 2008 Yamhill Cuvee next week and I am thoroughly impressed with how the 2008 lots taste right now. Another great vintage! - Lindsay Boudreaux, Harvest Enologist

Four Glorious Days

2009-09-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

With first fruit merely weeks away, weekends turn into a very special time. One reason is that we only have a guaranteed 4 days off before the grapes arrive, and another is because we have interns from ALL over world right here in Oregon who actively want to take in the beautiful Oregon scenery. Four days to take in the sites. Four days to visit with friends and loved ones. Four days of sleeping in ... then wave it all goodbye ... ITS HARVEST TIME!

The excitement for the crush is picking up. We have been spending the last week getting the winery in tip-top shape. With eight interns, all armed with scrub brushes, it turns into a dizzy whirlwind of cleaning and prepping. Luckily we have a great group of interns this year that know the importance of maintaining the Domaine Serene standard. Not only are they excellent at scrubbing down floors, drains, and fermentors, but they individually bring a lot to the harvest team. With that said, throughout the blog, you will meet them all individually, and find out what they are experiencing throughout the 2009 vintage. It’s going to be a good year! Stay tuned! - Justin Cox, Cellar Assistant

2007? The proof is in the bottle!

2009-08-19T09:23:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of negativity surrounding the 2007 vintage in Oregon. I’m happy to report that proof to the contrary is in the bottle! The 2007 vintage will answer all requests for lower alcohols. The wines are beautifully integrated and drinking much softer at an earlier age – that is to say these are beautifully nuanced wines that are enjoyable now. The vintage, though initially criticized by those with little understanding of year-long viticultural practices, has recently been lauded by more independent critics such as Jancis Robinson and Jay Miller.

Tick tock ...

2009-08-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

It's almost time! We are scant weeks away from the start of Harvest 2009 and everything is looking good. Currently we are experiencing veraison .vuh-ray-shun. (noun, taken from the French): the period when grapes stop growing and begin to ripen. They usually get softer and change color. White wines become more golden in color and red wines more purple.

There does not seem to be a set amount of time from when veraison begins until the grapes are ready to pick. Also, grapes do not ripen at the same speed. Crop yield estimates are made at this time, and all but one cluster per shoot may be removed and discarded to achieve the desired yield of under 2 tons per acre.

2008-11-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

Finally pressed off, we now busy ourselves with racking our settlers off the heavy lees and barreling down. The idea is to be as gentle as possible with the wine at this juncture; we do not use any pumps to transfer the wine into barrel but instead allow the head pressure in the tank to push the liquid down a series of fixed lines into the blending level, a floor below. The flow rate is then controlled by a valve at the barreling wand. This is a function is commonly referred to as "gravity-flow" and results in fresher, less-oxidized wines than when compared to barreling with a pump.

Although there is still much work to be done--the majority of the wines from this vintage won't be released for two years--many of the interns will close out their tenure at Domaine Serene by the end of the month. Due to our imminent departure, I think the mood in the cellar has become a little introspective of late, as we attempt to put the past few months in perspective. As I look back on the harvest, I cant help but wonder what it is that drives seemingly normal, sane people to repeatedly commit to such an overwhelming undertaking. Whats more, a harvest is not just the baggage that comes along with making wine, it is unequivocally the highlight of our year. Many of us even go to great pains to participate in two every year.

Obviously all of us in the cellar are enthralled by wine; we must be interested to an almost absurd degree to devote our lives to it. However, at some point during the harvest, after a month of Mondays, roughly three hundred gallons of coffee, and woefully little sleep, there has to be something else in it besides wine.

As best as I can figure, the hidden beauty of a vintage is the suspension of reality that comes with the crush. Only in this mode does it seem perfectly reasonable to run around wearing a camouflage bandanna covered in grape juice, an unruly beard, and terribly unkempt hair in one's workplace. In this "harvest zone" we relinquish the stale names for the days of the week and replace them with different markers: Sunday becomes the day Frank Sinatra serenades the cellar in the morning, Tuesday is dry ice delivery day, and Thursday, the day we feast on tacos for lunch. Furthermore, we will proudly display our harvest hands (blackened semi-permanently from grape juice) to anyone who will cast a passing glance, blissfully unaware that gnarled and beaten-up hands aren't as revered by all.

When, at long last, we finally emerge from this parallel reality back to our normal lives, we are pleasantly surprised to realize that we have participated in something monumental and indelible, at least until many years down the road when the very last bottle of the vintage is uncorked and savored. – Written by Zach Bryant, Harvest Intern. Photos by Megan Jones.

Can You Dig It?

2008-11-13T12:33:00.000-08:00

One of the most important rites of passage of a harvest is to dig-out a tank for pressing. After spending weeks caring for the grapes as they go through their cold-soak and fermentation, nothing is more satisfying than crossing the fermentation vessel number off the punch-down list and knowing that the next day you will put that batch to rest - or at least to settling tank - where it can slip comfortably from the forefront of our minds.

The process is deceptively simple.

Upon arrival at the winery in the morning we are greeted by a stack of work orders which list the fermenters that need to be pressed. Today, for example, one of our five-ton fermenters (F210) was first in the queue. We start by opening the valves and draining off the free-run juice, or juice that we can gather without pressing. When the tank stops draining of its own accord, we slowly crank open the door and scrape the surrounding grape skins into a stainless steel bin. This is to clear an area for a person to descend into the tank and dig it out.

Safety is our number one concern at Domaine Serene. We all get to dig out at least one tank this harvest, and only after we have properly secured our safety harness, leash, and O2 meter. We also position a fan at the top of the fermenter to blow off any lurking CO2. Once all precautions are taken, only then are we permitted to descend into the depths of the skins. Armed with a food-grade plastic shovel and tank-only gum boots that are cleaned before and after each use, we are unleashed on the skins to usher them out of the tank in any way possible.

Personally, I favor a shovel-hand combo, while some others are strictly shovel advocates. The idea is to clear the tank of skins as quickly as possible, while leaving the lees and seeds behind. The skins are then dumped from the stainless bins into the press and then lightly squeezed to remove more juice without breaking any seeds and contributing unwanted green tannins to the wine. The pressed wine is stored separately from the free-run, and left to settle until it is racked and barreled.

The end is in sight! Today we began the first of our rackings off of heavy lees, and by weeks end we will have pressed off our last ferments and began barreling down. Our work days are getting shorter and morale is high; we've nearly completed what has turned out to be a fantastic vintage. – Written by Zach Bryant, Harvest Intern. Photos by Samantha Poehlman.

Famous Corn Casserole

2008-11-13T12:26:00.000-08:00

Well, we can’t have harvest without the famous Corn Casserole. For years this was served at our annual July 4th party at the winery. I found the recipe in a Bon Appetite Magazine in 1979, and everyone loves it. It is high calorie, but you can try light sour cream and low fat cheese. ( I haven’t tried it). For harvest the crew needs the calories.

FAMOUS CORN CASSEROLE

Preheat oven to 350 Serves 14-18

5 cups corn kernels. Best to use fresh, use canned drained if fresh not available
2 -1/2 sticks melted butter
5 eggs

Buzz in cuisinart in batches until almost pureed, then put in large bowl.

2-1/2 Cups sour cream
2-1/2 Cups diced Monterey Jack cheese
1-1/2 Cups cornmeal- I like a fine grind
2 – 4 oz cans diced mild chilis
1-4oz can jalapeno chilis. Drain well
1 T. + ½ tsp salt

Mix into large bowl with the corn mixture.

Butter a 10x16x 2 glass baking dish. Spread mixture into it.
Bake uncovered 60-70 minutes or until golden brown and set

We double this recipe for harvest and typically make 4 pans for the 4th of July. If you cut the recipe in half, check for doneness after 50 minutes of cooking. – Written by Grace Evenstad. Photos by Megan Jones.

Here comes the rain again ...

2008-11-06T08:55:00.000-08:00

The wet weather has arrived! I'd been warned about its impending arrival countless times over the past three months, but by the end of October I must admit that I was becoming a bit dubious. However, from our perch atop Hilltop Lane we've had a front row seat for the endless parade of clouds that cant quite seem to take flight. Since all of the Domaine Serene interns live on property, our daily commute to the winery is by footpath through the vineyards. On our morning trek I don't think we've had more than ten feet of visibility through the thick pea soup of fog in nearly a week. I wouldn't think it possible to get lost on a five minute walk, but somehow I take enough meandering blind turns that my commute time has doubled.
The wet weather couldn't have been better timed in terms of winery operations. The day before the rains hit, we brought in our last fruit of the vintage: Chardonnay from the Clos du Soleil vineyard on the Evenstad Estate. By the time the first drops fell we were all comfortably indoors, our sorting table done for the season and spotlessly cleaned.

Although we took a short breath to congratulate each other on a successful harvest, we quickly resumed work as the realization dawned that the real work was yet to come. Although the fruit receival phase of the vintage is concluded, we have a winery brimming with grapes waiting (some patiently, others less so) to be become world-class wine. Our fermentations are in full swing, and our presses are fired up and running around the clock. We are absolutely in the thick of it. – Written by Zach Bryant, Harvest Intern. Photos by Megan Jones.

Unico Italiano Disperso Quassu in Oregon!

2008-11-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

Salve a tutti gli italo-americani collegati.

Mi e' stato chiesto di scrivere un paio di cose in italiano.....purtroppo or ora siamo alle prese con una immnesa quantita' di PINO (fratello di Mario) che ha "pressa" matta di essere pressato.....quindi rimandero' a piu' tardi un mio intervento.

loris ... unico italiano disperso quassu in Oregon! – Written by Loris Tartaglia, Harvest Intern. Photos by Megan Jones.

2008-10-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

Although Pinot Noir offers us the opportunity to walk through many different phases in the wine-making process (sorting, destemming, the cold soak, heating, fermentation, pressing, racking, and barreling down, just to name a few), this past week it has been a pleasure to receive fruit from our blocks of Chardonnay because it is a slightly more stream-lined process.

Since we do not whole-cluster ferment any of our white wines, we experience the instant gratification of tasting the juice from the press the day the grapes are picked; one of the aspects I've enjoyed the most of this vintage has been the opportunity to explore the differences in flavor reflected in the fruit coming from our different vineyard sites. Nearly a week ago, our cellar master Griffin Brown and I stood around the press sampling the free-run juice from a block of Chardonnay from the Two Barns vineyard. Each of us, upon first sip, decreed that indeed it wasn't juice we were tasting but rather a beaker of butterscotch. A short time later, after a press cycle, that we agreed that the same juice had turned into chocolate creme brulee. The next day, our palates weren't as in sync. Chardonnay from our Etoile Vineyard tasted distinctly Fuji apple-like to him, while the only thing I could think of was a Bartlett pear.

Blessed with perpetually clear days and a seemingly endless summer, through the end of October we have had the pleasure of harvesting our fruit only when we feel that it has achieved optimum ripeness. For those of us new to the area and to the winery, this has provided the perfect template to learn the different characteristics of the varying vineyard sites under optimal conditions, and for that we are certainly grateful. – Written by Zach Bryant, Harvest Intern. Photos by Megan Jones.

2008-10-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

Ken and I have been cooking for the winery harvest crew since the mid 1990’s. In our old winery in Carlton we had no kitchen and everything had to be prepared at home and eaten room temp, and the dishes brought back to the house to be washed. We were a lean crew then with dear friends and neighbors on the sorting line volunteering their time. When we built our new winery in time for harvest 2001, we knew we needed a kitchen so our hard working crew could get proper meals. Until last year Ken and I cooked every meal, often feeding 30 or more people at a time. Last year we hired a professional chef to cook 5 days a week, so Ken and I cut back to cooking on his 2 days off.

This year we have 8 interns from around the world, and 2 shifts each of 8 or so temporary employees on the sorting line helping our regular production crew of 5, and about 10 more “office people”. Over the years there have been favorite recipes that everyone likes. I have been requested to blog some of these.

My Kentucky Butter Cake recipe came to me 30 years ago from my sister-in-law, Suzie Evenstad. It is a buttery pound cake without frosting, and was the perfect cake to Fed Ex every year to our kids, Serene and Mark, for their birthdays when they were away at college. I would package it up with candles and unblown balloons and birthday banners with love and kisses. It travels well in its bundt pan and doesn’t get stale. – Written by Grace Evenstad. Photos by Megan Jones.

KENTUCKY BUTTER CAKE

3 Cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Combine these ingredients in small bowl and set aside

1 Cup room temp butter
2 Cups sugar
Cream together in large mixing bowl with electric beater

1 Cup buttermilk
2 tsp pure vanilla
Combine and set aside

To the butter and sugar mixture in the large bowl add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then, add your set-aside dry ingredients, alternately with your buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and beating after each addition.

Pour into buttered bundt pan or 9x13 pan and bake in 325 degree oven for 60-65 minutes.
Run spatula along edge of pan. Prick cake several times with a fork, and pour sauce over the cake.

SAUCE

Heat in saucepan:

1 Cup sugar
½ Cup butter
¼ Cup water
When melted together and sugar is dissolved, add
1 T. vanilla
1 T. rum flavor

Pour sauce slowly over cake. It will all soak in.

For harvest, make 2 or 3 cakes

Crunch Time!

2008-10-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

This is the point during harvest when it’s usually best to cut off all communication with the outside world. Nothing is more disheartening than picking up your phone to hear a friend inquire about your Friday night plans. It’s a seemingly innocuous question I realize, but it is guaranteed to provoke this chain of thoughts:

"Friday? It can’t be Friday already. I thought it was Wednesday. Well that’s awesome! Oh, wait, I have to work all weekend too."

The joke around the cellar during this time of year is that it is always Tuesday. We worked yesterday and we work tomorrow.

Luckily for us, even though we are firmly entrenched in the routine of rising, going to work, and collapsing into bed, we get to live vicariously through the grapes, which are on the thrill-ride of a lifetime. Allow me to paint a picture of their first days in the winery:

The grapes typically arrive in picking bins loaded onto the back of a flatbed truck, although with several of our Estate vineyards only a mile or so away they are sometimes hauled up the hill behind a tractor. When a particular block has been evaluated, the decisions of how to process it are made. Type of grape, size of berry, taste of juice, presence of plant matter all determine the speed at which we run the fruit down the sorting line into the de-stemmer. Lots will be sorted and de-stemmed before being delivered to a fermenter.

For the majority of our Pinot Noir, we add precise amounts of dry ice and Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) to prevent the beginning of fermentation for up to seven days. This is called a cold-soak, and it allows for the juice to absorb more phenolics from the skins. Some of our fermenters are equipped with Glycol jackets that give us the ability to cool and heat the tank at the press of a button, while some of our smaller open-topped fermenters require us to shuffle them between a chilled room and a heated one to manage the temperature of the must. After the cold-soak period, we gently restore warmth to the juice and skins and inoculate with a hand-picked yeast strain. Different yeasts promote distinct flavors in the wines they ferment; at Domaine Serene we use many small fermentation lots, up to 120 for Pinot Noir, so that we can achieve greater complexity in our wines due to the influences of multiple yeast strains and to have as many options as possible when creating the final Evenstad Reserve blend.

Yeast needs oxygen to complete the fermentation of sugar to alcohol, so our Associate Winemaker, Eleni Papadakis, walks the tightrope of introducing the necessary oxygen without over-oxidizing the fragile, young wine. During fermentation, we will punch down the cap several times daily--a process of submerging the top layer of skins in the juice which helps to maintain a homogenized temperature, introduces oxygen to the grapes, and prevents the top from developing unwanted microbial populations. Additionally, the wine can be pumped over, which entails drawing the wine out from the bottom of the tank and returning it over the top, making sure to wet the whole cap. This does not follow a set schedule, but rather is decided directly by Eleni on a tank by tank basis according to her flavor analysis.

This weekend we will finally get to see our first Chardonnay, as well as more Estate Pinot Noir. We treat our Chardonnay pretty differently (obviously) from the Pinot and the Syrah, so I'm sure it will provide great material for the coming blog posts. Stay tuned. – Written by Zach Bryant, Harvest Intern. Photos by Megan Jones.

The first Pinot Noir of the season

2008-10-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

Bam! Suddenly it's upon us. While the Syrah is always welcome, we look forward to and even yearn for the first lots of Pinot Noir. Ask and you shall receive! This past Friday we saw our first full day of the Domaine Serene 2008 Vintage, it looked phenomenal. Everything seemed to fall into place; the perfect weekend of weather, pristine fruit, and the eagerness of the entire staff.

Now, under a thick blanket of dry ice fog (to maintain adequate cold soaks), we are scurrying about helping out wherever we can. This past weekend had us primarily focusing on our Two Barns Vineyard and Guadalupe Vineyard fruit. These Dundee Hills Vineyards are not owned by Domaine Serene, but were planted by our Vineyard Manager, Joel Myers, and are tended to our strict specifications. They produce rich, lush fruit and tend to ripen faster than other sites. Both the numbers (Brix, pH, TA) and the exceptional flavors produced at these two vineyards helped us to make the decision to harvest. Believe me, with the strict attention to detail regarding fruit quality at Domaine Serene, these two vineyards alone have kept us plenty busy, working two harvest crews and double shifts around the clock. Speaking of painstaking attention to detail, today we received the fruit that will become a wonderful 2008 Coeur Blanc. As the sorting line slowed to a crawl, everyone inspected individual clusters of grapes to ensure that only the best fruit imaginable would make it through the careful selection process.

With weather that is "predicted" to stay more than nice (especially for mid-October in Oregon) we now have the luxury of collectively catching our breath as we wait for the estate vineyards to reach their prime. But don't worry! We will still tirelessly work to inspect each fermentation vessel and every vineyard sample as we anxiously await the remainder of the 2008 harvest.

For the record, even with the generous portion sizes provided by our harvest chef, Brad Powers, and Ken & Grace Evenstad (who cook meals often this time of year), and including the multiple helpings of ice cream, I have still managed to do a fair bit of running around the winery this past weekend to not see the calories take a toll. Well, at least not yet anyway. – Written by Sam Poehlman, Lab & QC Technician.

I love the smell of cauliflower in the morning!

2008-10-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

At 8 o'clock in the morning most people would consider the smell of horse, cauliflower, sherry, wet cardboard, rotting fruit, ethanol, vinegar, and sulfur some interesting breakfast components, but yesterday morning we had it all! We were lucky enough to have a guest, Patrick, from Chemeketa Community College in Salem, visit Domaine Serene to teach a very educational class about wine faults and important wine components.

The tasting started with simple water samples containing concentrations of tannin, malic, citric, tartaric acids, bitterness, and mineral components. These were then followed by comparative tastings with a control wine and doctored samples including sugar, sulfur, vinegar, tannin, and alcohol. The various concentrations of each element had the team fine-tuning their senses to detecting various elements important in creating a perfectly balanced wine (as well as recognizing one that is not in balance).

In addition to our flights, we had a nasty selection of flawed samples to remind us just how awry wine can go without due diligence by those of us in the cellar. Examples presented included: brettanomyces, ethyl acetate, volatile acidity, oxidation, mercaptans, dimethyl sulfide, and ...TCA (cork taint!!)

While some of the senses stimulated were not the most desirable, I think each one of us developed a new appreciation for the attention to detail, commitment to quality and the fabulous wine we are in the process of creating here at Domaine Serene. - Written by Ameila Hildebrand, Harvest Intern.

The fruit kept rolling in ...

2008-10-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

The fruit kept rolling in Friday with a new twist: Viognier from Folin Vineyard in the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon. Justin Cox, one of the full-time cellar assistants, slid into his green rubber wet-weather gear and braved the steady rain to retrieve the fruit from the staging area while we set up the sorting line.

In contrast to the Syrah, the Viognier would not be de-stemmed but would instead be ushered directly from the sorting line to the press. There were about 8 of us on the sorting line sifting through the whole clusters, removing any leaves or other vegetation and culling out any bunches that didn't meet the strict standards laid out by our Associate Winemaker, Eleni Papadakis. Domaine Serene is a gravity flow winery, so in lieu of using pumps to transport grapes we either allow them to flow of their own volition down a slide to a lower level in the winery, or, as was the case Friday's, we forklift the sorted fruit down to the fermentation level and gently tip it into the press.

After we finished sorting the Viognier we moved on to processing more Walla Walla Valley Syrah, Eleni would occasionally pop over with a sample of the Viognier free run juice or of the pressings for us to taste; I think my teeth still ache from the abundance of sugar and acids from those couple sips I took. Sweet, high-toned juice makes for great Viognier and we can’t wait to taste the finished product.

The latest round of Syrah did not present any issues. The fruit came in very clean, so we were able to sort through it and process it at a good clip. As those of us who are relatively new to this cellar grow accustomed to the layout of the harvest deck and fermentation area, we will be able to push forward with less and less lag time and start establishing a consistent rhythm. This week, from one day to the next, I could feel our momentum building and our confidence surging. I'm sure that in a week or two the processes will be so entirely ingrained into our muscle fibers that our hands will be chasing clusters on a sorting table even as we sleep. – Written by Zach Bryant, Harvest Intern. Photos by Megan Jones.

First fruit today!

2008-10-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

As September wanes into October, I think all of us at Domaine Serene were thrilled to bring in and process our first fruit of the vintage today, getting underway a harvest we have all been eagerly anticipating. I don’t feel like I'm going too far out on a limb to claim that all of us down in the cellar did not get into the business because of a passionate and insatiable love of cleaning.These past few weeks we have gotten ready for the main event by scrubbing and re-scrubbing every floor, drain, tank, and barrel in the winery, and let me tell you, this place is CLEAN! We might not have loved every minute of the preparation, but it was well worth it all to bring in our first lot of Walla Walla Syrah and see the juice and skins splatter into our fermenters. To us, the aftermath of the first day of crushing in what had been a pristine cellar is kind of like spending all afternoon perfecting a sandcastle on the beach, and then actually enjoying it more as you don a Godzilla grin and tear it apart.

The winery was absolutely filled with a perceptible energy today, smiling faces running about even as the hours piled up and the sun threatened to disappear before we made it outdoors to enjoy the uncommonly seasonable day. Still, in the midst of all the fun, we were reminded that we had an obligation to fulfill: the pre-harvest weigh in. One by one we dutifully took the place normally reserved for picking bins on the scale and heard our weights yelled out by the watchful throng. I learned that I've got to gain a modest 60 pounds to gain the title of biggest guy in the cellar. A prize will be awarded at the end of harvest to the person with the biggest weight differential--higher or lower. Although we'll all be putting in some seriously long hours over the next few months in a physical job, we'll also be enjoying meals prepared by an in-house chef...so its anybody's guess how our bodies will respond.

First day in the books, I think we're all looking forward to getting into a rhythm and bringing in a lot more fruit. Still, first things first, and I know we're all going to sleep really, really well tonight. – Written by Zach Bryant, Harvest Intern. Photos by Megan Jones.