Adventures in Pinot and Beyond

Signing off....

2009-01-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

I know this is a bit late (holidays...yeah know!), but wanted to thank everyone for checking in on me from time to time on my blog. I was gone for 4 months and there is no doubt that it was a life changing experience.

I went from Pennsylvania to Ohio to Indiana to Illinois to Wisconsin to Minnesota to South Dakota to Wyoming to Idaho to Oregon! Then it was from Oregon to California to Nevada to Arizona to Mexico to New Mexico to Texas to New Mexico to Colorado to Kansas to Missouri to Illinois to Indiana to Kentucky to West Virginia to Maryland to Pennsylania!

This photo is from one of my favorite spots on the trip, white sands. I feel that life is like climbing a mountain (or in this case a big sand dune), it's hard, and there's lots of bumps and things that slow you down, and sometimes you might have to crawl. However, if you don't persist and follow your heart, you'll never get to the top and achieve your greatest.

Almost home

2009-01-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

Well, my last days consisted of travelling thru Denver, St. Louis, and Louisville (to name the highlights). My fav was St. Louis (missouri that is)...maybe it was because we got to visit the Budwesier brewery! Just kidding. It was a cool city with amazing buildings and a vibe kind of like an east coast city.

It was a 10 hour drive in the rain from Louisville but I got home just in time for Christmas eve and a nice holiday!

Taos Ski valley

2008-12-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

Finally got to go skiing. The mountain was beautiful. There's not a ton to do compared to other ski resorts, but enough to occupy you. And the skiing was phenomenal! There was one incident where I "accidentally" went down a black diamond that was way too hard for me! I tried to ski to another slope but ended up in a glade run and couldn't get out. So, I ended up sliding down the hill to a point that was not as steep and I could get my skiis on. Fun times.....normally I wouldn't go on such hills, because I don't like to fall when I am skiing. But sliding down the hill on my butt was a blast!

Lucky for us, there just so happened to be a beer festival at the ski resort after skiing was closed. I have to say I have been to a few beer festivals in my day, but this one was great because it was mostly all colorado and new mexico breweries I never heard of. The best was marble brewery in albequerqe (spelling?). They age their special blend in old bourban barrels, so you got a coconuty flavor. It was so yummy, I had to keep going back for more.

Santa Fe

2008-12-21T10:00:00.001-08:00

Santa Fe is a pretty city for sure. Had a great dinner at Pasquales. Best food and wine of the trip. Went to the Georgia O'Keefe museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. If you've never been, I suggest heading to Canyon Drive. There are more galleries in one area than I have ever seen. There weren't any other people in the galleries we went in, so it was a very special and personal experience.

UFOs.....

2008-12-19T09:09:00.000-08:00

So, since I used to have a fascination with UFOs and aliens I of course had to make a stop in Roswell. Didn't see any aliens though :( However, did go to the UFO museum. I BELIEVE.....

White Sands

2008-12-19T09:04:00.001-08:00

White Sands National Monument was awesome! The pictures don't do it justice. If you ever go, I definately recommend not purchasing saucers to slide down the dunes. It was way more fun just to jump or roll down!

Juarez is a no no

2008-12-16T21:04:00.000-08:00

So, the big plan today was to go to Juarez, Mexico. Drove all the way to El Paso, TX to walk over the border. Needed an oil change, so stopped into Pepboys. The guy was asking us where we were heading and I mentioned Juarez. He is actually from there himself but now lives in Texas. He enlightened us on all the violence currently going on in Juarez relating to the warring mafia members. I was unaware of this but since the beginning of the year there has been hundreds of murders. Apparently not a good place to go and decided against it since I did not feel like being hit by a stray bullet or getting kidnapped and held for ransom. Since we had been looking for a place for an oil change for the last couple of days and suprisingly couldn't find a place to go, I felt for sure it was divine intervention that we ended up at this Pepboys and found out what had been going on there. So, I am safe and sound and now in Almagordo, NM. Heading to White Sands tommorrow.

Chirahachua and Coronado Natl forest

2008-12-16T20:50:00.000-08:00

Decided to visit Chirahachua after Saguaro (btw i am in Arizona). Got there around sunset, so got a quick hike in and got to climb some rocks. Since we couldn't have campfires, we decided to find another camping location other than Chirahachua. Ended up in Coronado Nat'l forest. I've never seen as many stars in my life (it beat out Tahiti). When we woke up the photo pasted is what I was suprised to see. Both beautiful spots that are not well travelled by tourists. I highly recommend.

Saguaro National Park

2008-12-16T20:42:00.000-08:00

Had a nice hike in Saguaro national park. A pretty mellow, relaxing hike, until I encountered a naked man running through the park. Sorry, ladies and gentleman, no photos.

puerto penasco

2008-12-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

So upon leaving Vegas I decided I really wanted to go to the beach, so we took a slight detour and headed into Mexico to Puerto Penasco, a beach town on the Sea of Cortez. I have only been to Tijuana in Mexico so it was fun to have another Mexican adventure. We ended up staying in probably what is considered the red light district (it was cheap). Luckily all went well except for 1) the lipstick on my pillow (was this place frequented by prostitutes?) and 2) noisy people outside most of the night including a nice wake-up call from the man at the desk when he blasted mexican music louder than any music I've ever heard (even at a concert) from his truck outside. I didn't take any photos of from where we stayed, but here are some nice photos of the beach. A cool thing about the town was that it was all sand, even most of the roads. There was no distinction between the beach and the rest of the town. The tourist part of the town was fun to walk around and the beach of course was great! Sarah and Tommy look forward to an awesome x-mas/housing gift! And if you are ever there definately rent an ATV.
P.S. You now need a Passport to go back into the US from the mexico border

The Palms

2008-12-16T20:14:00.000-08:00

So, last time I was in vegas it was for my Bachelorette party and I really wanted to go to the Palms to the Ghostbar. Cause it was so far off the strip and there were so many other fun spots to hang we never made it. So, this time I was determined to go! Before hitting up the Palms, we went to see Phantom of the Opera. I fully enjoyed it, except for the indian man sitting next to me who kept talking the whole time...but I still enjoyed the show. I think we were 6th row. So we had a great view! Earlier in the day we were trying to figure out a plan to get into the clubs at the palm for free and without a wait. Luckily I found an obscure link online that allowed me to sign up to be on the guest list. So, we got in free to the Playboy club and Moon (with a roofdeck overlooking the strip from the top floor). I opted against ghostbar since the two clubs we went to, are actually newer. We had lots of fun and danced all night!

Vegas baby!!!

2008-12-12T12:36:00.001-08:00

Finally made it to Vegas. Was pretty exhausted from the last couple of nights so we decided to take it easy for our first night. We went down to fremont street since I've never been and saw the Fremont Street experience. Found a blow up crown bottle and ate a deep fried twinkie (boy did I have powdered sugar everywhere). Drove amelia around the strip a bit and checked out the adult stores and wedding chapels (checked out meaning drove by them...). Tried to buy something at a pawn shop but it was closed. How does a pawn shop in vegas close at 4:30pm? Now we are nice and rested for a fun night tonight at the Palms! Also, going to see Phantom of the Opera at Venetian. Yeah!

Finally in my favorite city

2008-12-12T12:29:00.000-08:00

Made it to LA! Again, only have one day so had to make the most of it. Met up with a friend from high school and went for a fancy dinner at Koi. Another celebrity siting...David Spade with a bevy of beauties of course. The food was awesome. I highly recommend. After dinner we met up with my friend Charlie and he took us to a bunch of cool dive bars. Had to hit up El Pollo Loco for breakfast, then it was off to vegas! I didn't really take many photos in LA so the ones posted are on our trip to get breakfast in Charlie's van. Amelia got the back with the bean bag chair!

Malibu!

2008-12-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

Malibu...another place I have never been. So nice. And had a Gary Busey siting.

Santa Barbara

2008-12-12T12:16:00.000-08:00

The cool thing about my trip through Cali is that I am getting to go to a bunch of places I have never been, even though I've been to California 4 times I believe. So, our next stop was Santa Barbara. We only had a night so we had to make the most of it. We ended up finding a hostel (the Motel 6 was pricey here!) so we could spend our money on enjoying SB instead. Checked out the pier, had a great dinner then explored the bars of SB. Saw a reggae band, sang some karaokee, and end up at the shitty kitty club. Made a few friends along the way and had fun times. The Mexican prostitute who tried to pick up Amelia was not that fun, but I told him we were a couple, so he finally left us alone.

Paso Robles and Sideways!

2008-12-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

Had a big day tasting in Paso Robles. It is so beautiful out there and since it is still being established quite a few wineries have free tastings (although for us, it didn't matter of course). Loved Napa but really preferred Paso, because all the wineries are down these beautiful winding one lane roads in the middle of nowhere. We went to a number of wineries, but the fav was Justin. We even got to taste the 2005 isosceles...although not for purchase unfortunately because it is sold out! After Paso we drove to Buellton for our dinner at the Hitching post II, yes, the restaurant from Sideways. I can totally understand why they choose that spot for the movie. The food was awesome and the staff even better! We had a lot of fun. The next day we had to make our way to Fess Parker...where Paul G. is drunk and drinks out of the spit bucket. Definately the last two days were my favorites for wine tasting!

Christmas time!

2008-12-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

Although it has been pretty warm (especially compared to pa), I've still been able to get in the christmas mood. Don't worry, I have been picking up presents along the way :) Only question is....will I have a christmas tree this year????

Napa nightlife

2008-12-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

So, we stayed with one of the interns in downtown Napa. He grew up there and his mom lives there. Drank lots of wine and went to a few of the local spots. Good fun, although I feel bad for Zach's mom because the house turned into a party space! We thanked her with Blockus, ha ha!

Wine tasting

2008-12-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

Our first stop was Roederer in Andersen Valley. We took our time in the morning and had a great Mexican lunch, so only had time for one winery. Roederer is mostly sparkling, so it was a good start for us! We stayed in Motel 6 again (we decided that we should get a frequent guest punch card since we've been staying in so many Motel 6s) and next day was Napa! Started off at Opus one. The receptionist was so nice to us. She said next time we should have called ahead and could have gotten a tour of the winery. Oh well, we aren't planning too much in advance this trip! Anyway, one taste of Opus one was $30 - which we got for free for being in the industry!

Caming in the Redwoods

2008-12-12T11:48:00.000-08:00

Our first real stop was the Redwoods. It was a little chilly but we had a great time camping. We of course did it in style by drinking a magnum of Jerusalem hill!

A little jam packed

2008-12-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

A picture is worth a thousand words....obviously you can tell from the photo that it was hard to fit everything in the car! Poor Amelia stuck in the back!

Bye bye oregon

2008-12-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, the 2nd of December was my last day at Domaine Serene. Here's a pic of me waiting to leave (I took a half day while the other two interns had to work til 8pm, so we had a late start). I'll miss working at the winery and the great people I meet however, am definately ready to go back to Philly and get back to normal life. Of course we only made it an hour out of Dayton before we had to hit up Taco Bell!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

2008-11-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving weekend! I've had 4 days off and it has been sooo nice to be off of work. We had a great Thanksgiving at the Ritz. We started with a carrot soup....and ended with pumpkin cheesecake...yummy! Only 3 days left til I leave :( But my trip cross country is going to be awesome so stay tuned!

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

Harvest party

2008-11-24T19:22:00.000-08:00

The end is near indeed. Just a photo of our harvest party. 4 days of work left. Sad but good. Unfortunately each intern had to give an impromptu speech....wasn't really prepared for that one! Did get a signed magnum of 2005 Jerusalem Hill pinot though! Hmmmm, who will get to share it with me?

Beach weekend!

2008-11-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

Our first weekend off since the beginning of harvest. We were so excited. Finally I remembered what it felt like to enjoy a saturday afternoon! Myself and a couple of the interns headed to Lincoln city, the weather was typical oregon....cooler and a little overcast, but it was beautiful for sure! Rented a house and enjoyed the beach.....good times!

Rite of passage

2008-11-14T17:40:00.001-08:00

Well I got to dig out my first tank! I have mostly been in the lab and not too involved with the cellar work since there is so much to do lab wise, but I was told I had to dig out a tank. So, I did. It was alot of fun. Kind of reminded me of shovelling snow when i was a kid and we would solicit all the neighbors for jobs. I had to get hooked up to a harness just in case I passed out from too much CO2 - this way they could pull me out. Also wore an O2 meter, as a warning, so I could get out before I passed out. We have open top fermentors, so I was not so worried, but safety is always best :) Just in case you were wondering, you shovel out the skins in the tank after fermentation is complete and you have drained off all of the juice. Then the skins go into the press.

Interns gone wild

2008-11-07T15:16:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when

1) You work too much

2) You drink too much grain alcohol and 151

3) You live with an Italian named Loris

Halloween Party #2

2008-11-05T22:15:00.000-08:00

So party #2 was being thrown by us, however, we were told we weren't allowed to have the party at our house, so the boys that got us in trouble for having the bonfire and hence why we can't have people over anymore, offered their house for our party (sorry long story).

Since we have a reputation to uphold, I of course made jello shots in varying levels of toxicity, and we made a stellar punch with dry ice lifted from the winery. Needless to say with the vodka, 151 rum and everclear used in our concoctions everyone had fun! Since I was the oktoberfest beer wench, I drank german beer all night...and of course a few jello shots (after all I made them!). Since Zack was still wearing my dress I felt he also needed to add make-up to his costume. He gladly said yes and I got to put eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara, and lipstick on him. He said no to the nail polish though...oh well, maybe next year. I also got to paint rob's clown makeup on both nights and liz's make-up friday...boy were they too trusting!

Night shift was supposed to get off at 12pm, so they could join us, but had too much work to do. Can't wait til everyone is on the same shift again, so everyone can have fun together again!

If you can't tell, the pink finger is from the jello shots.

Halloween party #1

2008-11-05T22:07:00.001-08:00

We had a long day at work but we were still super stoked to dress up and celebrate halloween. We went to a neighboring intern house for a small gathering. Since most hadn't really had much time to plan costumes (too busy working), I found two of my roomates costumes from my closet...namely dresses and wigs. Can you guess who I am?

Dolly Parton in working 9 to 5! We stopped by the winery to say hi to nightshift before we were off, but we at least left them with a present.

The Aussies find a new holiday

2008-11-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

So, since I am the biggest Halloween celebrator and I wasn't going to be home this year for it, I had to get all my roomates involved in my favorite holiday. That meant planning a party, getting decorations, and of course pumpkin carving!!! Our vineyard manager brought us to his uncle's pumpkin patch late one night after work so we scored free pumpkins! The night of the pumpkin carving everyone was pretty sleepy, but I convinced my two Australian roomates to carve pumpkins with me. Now they love halloween (they never celebrated the holiday before obviously). My pumpkin is the one on the right. I decided to give him ears.

My home in the lab...

2008-11-05T18:44:00.001-08:00

Thought I would share a photo of what I have been doing every day.....lots of spec work! Ammonia, Primary Amino, Glucose/Fructose, and Malic! Do you like my cuvette?

Last day of fruit

2008-11-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

I know, I am a bit late again. But last thursday was our last day of fruit. We brought in the rest of the chardonnay! Here's a photo of the champagne toast to celebrate our accomplishments taken with the day staff. Sadly our night crew buddies are not in the photo :( We are a bunch of misfits though, that's for sure!

No truer words

2008-10-29T19:09:00.000-07:00

Below is a poem that was referenced at Vince's funeral by his brother. I found it very touching and also very personal, as one of the reasons I decided to take a risk and follow my dreams is because I didn't want to regret not doing it. I wanted my dash to be more fufilling.....
For your reading pleasure...

The Dash

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning...to the end. He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth...and now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth. For it matters not, how much we own; the cars....the house...the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash. So think about this long and hard...are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged. If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real, and always try to understand the way other people feel. And be less quick to anger, and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before. If we treat each other with respect, and more often wear a smile...remembering that this special dash might only last a little while. So, when your eulogy is being read with your life's actions to rehash...would you be proud of the things they say about how you spend your dash?

Sad news

2008-10-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

So it's been a pretty sad week. On wednesday, my cousin Tara's husband Vince passed away unexpectedly. He was the same age as me. I've posted a picture of me and Vince dancing at Silk City this past winter. We had a great time that night, and not that long ago were joking about it over facebook.

I also posted a picture of tara and vince at the Nationals game. In May, tara and vince took me and bryan to the game...she got free tickets through her company and we enjoyed every minute of it!

The viewing is sunday and the funeral monday. I'm heading to baltimore tommorrow and won't be back in oregon til tuesday. One of vince's co-workers gave me a free flight using her frequent flier miles. It is really amazing how generous people are.

Vince was a fun loving guy, who loved my cousin and never minded any of our shenanigans, in fact he usually joined in. I just had a flashback of one of the first times I met vince and we were driving to a bar (we had been drinking beer beforehand) and how he had to stop for all the girls to take a bathroom break and didn't mind at all, even though the stop was in a not so perfect location. We'll all miss him and our crazy fun times together.

Please keep tara and the rest of the family in your prayers.

Sorry!

2008-10-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give a shout out to all my fans and say that I am sorry for not writing soon. Being busy is no excuse, I know :)
Well, lots has been going on at the winery, although I have mostly been doing the same types of testing. Lots of grapes coming in and lots of ferments going on.
If you would like more detailed harvest info you can check out the domaine serene blog. The interns, winemaker, and other staff have been posting detailed info. But don't forget about my site and leaving me exciting comments!!!
http://domainesereneharvest.blogspot.com
It's been a world wind of a time since I last wrote. I had the great pleasure to go back to philly for 24 hours last saturday for our good friends Micah and Stacie's wedding. Congrats guys!!!! We had a fabulous time at the wedding. It was at their house in the front yard. They live in a log cabin with a creek running next to the house and the property is surrounded by trees. It was a beautiful setting in fall. I'll post a couple of photos when I get some from Randy, the photographer!

A fun weekend at work and my future plans....

2008-10-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well, the weekend is over but I wouldn't know because I spent all of it at work. We are still hard at work getting all the fruit in by next weekend. Over the past two weeks I've worked 134 hours! Now I know what it feels like to be bryan and can appreciate his schedule more, although I don't know why anyone would want to work these hours all the time. Rest is needed at some point :) Not much going on otherwise, as we are all too exhausted when we come home to do anything. Yesterday I got to do my first punchdown to the fermenting grapes, as I was adding nutrients to feed the yeast. It might sound silly, but just seeing the grapes in the fermentors, smelling them, tasting the juice, is exciting.

As for how long I will be in Oregon, our harvest party isn't until November 23rd, and the weekend following thanksgiving is a big weekend out here. All the wineries that don't have tasting rooms are open. So, the plan is now to stay through the beginning of December and then head down to California with my Aussie roommate. We thought it would be fitting to check out the wineries in Napa and Santa Barbara. Then it is off to meet Bryan in Vegas baby!

So, I will be back in the real world of working in January. If anyone knows of any recruiters in philly let me know. I am hoping to get a job using my MBA (wine related would be the best of course but not alot of options) and work in the city (I've kind of gotten used to being able to walk to work). I actuallly saw a cool wine marketing research job at E.J. Gallo in Harrisburg, but that would be a 2 hour commute. Anyway, anything to start off with will be good as I know the economy is in the dumper.

Sensory analysis

2008-10-11T00:35:00.000-07:00

So one day this past week....life is a blur now, can't even remember what day it is, but maybe this was tuesday....our winemaker brought in someone to teach a course on sensory analysis. I've never had a course quite like this. We smelled and tasted various levels of alcohol, tannin, citric and other acids, sulfur, sugar...and caffeine and alum to mimic the effects of a bitter and astrigent substance on the tongue. In addition, the coolest thing in my opinion that we did was we got to smell through wine faults.....oxidation, ethyl acetate, VA, Acetaldehyde, Polymercapton, Di-methyl, Brettanomyces, TCA (what they call "corked"), and phenolics. I definately need some more practice on the id, but it was a good start!

Got out at a reasonable time and was able to head up to portland to hang out with tommy. I knew the weekend was a no go, so was happy to have one last night to hang out.
We went to Alexis', a greek restaurant. It was so yummy, but I must admit that I found some of the above faults in the greek wine we had......
Went for some cocktails at the saucebox and then had to go home to sleep to prepare for another long day at work.....

Finally a visitor :)

2008-10-11T00:18:00.001-07:00

So yes, i am backtracking but I couldn't not post about my friend Tommy's visit. Tommy is the only one who has actually made it out here to visit and I very much appreciated seeing someone from home. He came down Saturday and our first stop was my winery. I gave him the personal tour, along with a taste of some of our wines. Since there are so many great wineries in the area I decided to take Tommy to some wineries I had yet to explore. We went to Adelsheim, Penner Ash, Willakenzie, and tried but was too late to make it into Elk Cove. All were good, but particularly liked Adelsheim and the architecture of Penner Ash, not to mention a few of their Pinots!

After tasting we took Tommy into McMinnville for my second dinner at La Rambla. We ended up the night at our favorite local dive bar Kin's where we had loads of fun singing karaokee. I stunned them with Elvira, the locals were even dancing :) Tommy has a good pic, I'll try to get it and post it.

Sunday I had to work, tommy slept off his jet lag and for dinner we went back to McMinnville (not many places to go around here....) and tried the Japanese restaurant. It was awesome! Afterwards we treated ourselves to ice cream...luckily noone was in the shop, so we got to taste test most of the flavors!

15 1/2 hours.....

2008-10-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been putting in 12ish hour days since last week, but today we got our first large arrival of fruit. Since they are predicting rain in about a week or so, we need to bring in all our fruit in the next week, which means we'll be bringing in 70 plus tons a day. In the past the max they have done is 50 tons, so this could get interesting....

I'm still testing the vineyard grape samples to see if they are ready to be picked, but basically the schedule is set.

Since our Syrah is done cold soaking we have begun innoculations with different strains of yeast. So, now I also get to test for the levels of primary Amino Nitrogen and Ammonia so that the winemaker can determine the nutrition and how to proceed with the yeast innoculations.

I've never worked this long of hours before, but was still able to have a smile on my face most of the day. Although at the end of the night I was getting pretty tired and so ready to be done scrubbing the tartrates off the chute....but I did have a lot of fun with the power hose and now my sneakers are soaked and drying over our heating vents.

Since I didn't write about last weekend, and my friend Tommy's visit....I am going to backtrack with the next posts....it's 12:30 am and need to be in at 7am, but who needs sleep???

Harvest is here!

2008-10-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

Harvest is here. Finally!!! Worked my first long day....11 hours.

I was so excited when I saw the grapes! As you can see from the photo I got to work the sorting line. Had to look for anything green...like leaves, raisins, bird damaged fruit, and insects! Our first batch of syrah was minimal, so once the pinot comes in they will hire temps to do the sorting. It was fun though to have an opportunity to be on the sorting line. The rest of the day I performed alot of testing for our other fruit that hasn't come in yet, as well as the syrah after it was in the fermentor tanks. As for the fruit we brought in, it will now be cold soaking in the fermentor tanks for the next week!

Britney Spears punk cover band

2008-09-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a pretty lazy day. At night we went into portland. Went to dinner at pok pok, a thai restaurant. It was awesome. If you ever get there sit outside! It was a great place and got to enjoy lots of unique representations of thai food including duck, quail, and lots of great salads. No pad thai on this menu.

After dinner we headed over to the Redroom to see one of our co-workers bands. There motto is....10 years and still not a strip club. The club totally reminded me of some places my friend in LA has taken me to. The first set was all punk renditions of britney spears songs, so it was pretty entertaining.

It's finally friday!

2008-09-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

So, we got word that the fruit won't be in this weekend...was excited but also wanting to have one last weekend of freedom. After work on friday we had our winery pre-harvest party at one of our vineyards that is about 20 minutes from the winery. I really enjoyed having an opportunity to learn and ask questions about the different clones of pinot we have, as well as the vine management, soil, and so on. I was reminded of college and my days at the ag school.

The party culminated with a spitting contest. I didn't win, but I didn't come in last place either.

After the party it was time to head back to the house for the real party we were throwing at the rock quarry behind our house. Had to pick up some necessary supplies on the way home as the pics show...yes I am going old school with my Icehouse and yes I ate half a jar of antacids....I blame it on all the redbull I drank in order to stay awake for two parties :)

I'd say 40-50 people came, mostly all people from other wineries in the area. It was good times and noone got hurt trying to find the quarry or in the fire, ha ha and I got to play dj until the iPod died.

Another week gone bye bye

2008-09-28T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well, we are waiting for harvest, so got lots more samples to test this week from the vineyard. Also, got to sample the juice from the fruit. It will be interesting to see how the juice evolves before we pick it.

Fun times at night...

Monday: Movie night!!!

Tuesday: Went to a bonfire at a co-workers and I taught everyone how to make S'mores PA style. Noone melts their chocolate first and gets the marshmellow just to the point of a golden brown! I have also decided that I really like Crown Royal. I think that will be my new drink of choice (other than wine of course)...

Thursday: We were given a bunch of Walla Walla wines left over from work (they were doing a tasting to determine if there are any other varietals that might be of interest for producing wine in future years). Not a lot was actually tasted out of the bottles so us interns had a fun night of bonding and wine drinking. We estimate we had about 13 bottles between all of us. Our crazy Italian intern decided he wanted to give us "tatooes". We all showed up at work thursday with sharpie remnants. Fun times as the pics show....

All in all it was a great week!

Monday isn't my favorite day

2008-09-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

Back to work. Today was cleaning day. I didn't have any samples to test in the lab so I got to help the cellar crew with cleaning and lots of it as we prepare for our first grapes. I think they say 70% of wine making is cleaning and sanitization. My favorite was scrubbing the floors. I was seriously contemplating how much money I had to make when I get back and find a new job so that we could afford a house cleaner so I don't have to scrub anymore floors!

Sunday is also for wine tasting

2008-09-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

Truth be told...all days are for wine tasting :) Guess that is what I am out here to learn about, so must explore. Went to a number of wineries today with all my fellow interns minus one. We went to Domaine Drouhin (one of our neighbors and close competitors), Ponzi, Argyle, Rex Hill, and Chehalem. Chehalem and Argyle were favorites. The photo is from Chehalem. They had a lovely tasting room, very modern.

Also got to experience Burgerville which is pretty much so just like McDonalds except better and they use all locally sourced food and all recycled paper products.

Saturdays are for wine tastings....

2008-09-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

Slept in a bit from our late night out in portland. Then decided to go to the goodwill. Since I am on a budget now, the only clothes shopping I'm doing is at the second hand store. I don't mind though, as I used to spend alot of time looking for vintage clothing at the salvation army and goodwill in allentown.

After the goodwill, me and Amelia decided it was time for some winetasting on our own. We went to Stoller, Cristom, St. Innocent, and Mystic. My favs were Cristom and St. Innocent. Bought a couple of bottles! The best thing about working in the wine industry is the industry discount. I got a $52 bottle of pinot for $30! How can you beat that!

Had a lot of great conversations with the tasting room folks. Learning alot about oregon wines and the land.

After tastings, we went to McMinnville to La Ramblas. A great spanish tapas bar and restaurant. Of course, we had to drink the spanish wines here! What's great about being here is everyone is into wine. Met a nice couple sitting next to us at the bar that just planted their first vines last year.

The weekend is here!

2008-09-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

So I had a great weekend and I still have Sunday to enjoy! Friday after wine tasting, we had a photo shoot at the Ritz (they wanted to photograph the interns in their daily routine). I decided I needed a shower, so any photos of me might be in my robe! They are going to publish them in our winery newsletter that goes out to our buyers.

After the photo shoot we headed to Lumpy's, the local watering hole. Had a beer then went across the street to A to Z wines. They were having a pirate party to celebrate International pirate's day, Arghhh. We had to come up with names for ourselves, so of course I had to be One Eyed Willy.

After the A to Z party, it was time to finally get to Portland for a night out. We started off at Vault. Let me tell you how happy I was to be in the land of fancy cocktails and great food to nosh on (ha ha). This trip has totally made me realize what a city girl I am! Wherever wine might take me, we'll have to be living somewhere where vineyards are close to a big city that we can live in! Now, don't get me wrong, I do love some Budweiser, PBR and bikers (as my knew fascination with another local bar Kin's would tell you)! Just don't think I can live in the country permanently...

We hopped around Portland a bit. Had some bourbon at Clyde common and ended the night at Auros (spelling? - a posh club in the city). All in all had a great night!

Another nice friday at work

2008-09-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

So, we were lucky to again have an opportunity to go tasting at another local winery...Shea. In case you are wondering, our winemaker is new, so she is trying to get around to some different wineries to meet the winemakers and also learn from their best practices. We obviously also benefit in that we have an opportunity to meet and talk with these winemakers and try their wines. This week we spit, no swallowing....which by the way, I am having trouble with, but I need to practice because when you are working you should be spitting! It seems whenever I "spit", either it dribbles down my chin or splashes back out of the cup and onto my glasses. Pretty classy. My roommate recommended practicing in the shower. At Shea we just spit into the drain on the floor, so that was a little easier.....

Shea is a very small operation and they sell a lot of fruit to other vineyards. I've noticed this being a pretty common practice, even though a lot of the wineries still make ultra premium wines from the grapes they are procuring.

This week in a snapshot

2008-09-21T11:02:00.001-07:00

I'm so getting behind on my posts, but it is fun to keep the blog going and I know bryan appreciates it! This week at work was a little slower. We are still not sure when the first batch of fruit it coming in, probably this coming week, so things might be get hectic soon.

I did however get some grapes to test in the lab. Performed some pH analysis, Total acidity, and Brix on the fruit. Last week I did a lot of free SO2 and a few alcohol determinations on our wine that is almost ready to bottle.

The "Ritz" (as they call our intern housing) is coming along. They are doing alot of landscaping which will be nice, but right now there is just alot of red dust! We finally got a path laid, however, it doesn't got all the way to the winery so I imagine there will be a lot of muddy commutes once it starts raining.

Had an opportunity to try some local microbrews at the Golden Valley brewery in McMinnville. Of course I had to do the tasting.....it was pretty good!

Wine Tasting Part II

2008-09-16T22:17:00.000-07:00

The second winery we got the behind the scenes tour was Archery Summit. Me and Bryan actually already had an opportunity to visit the winery when we were on vacation and bought a bottle to celebrate our anniversary. But we didn't get the tour! This is one of my favorite wineries so far in regards to the style of pinot I like... If you're lucky, maybe I'll even share a bottle with you when I get home.

Wine tasting Part I

2008-09-16T21:54:00.001-07:00

Friday we had the opportunity to spend half the day at two wineries, doing tastings of course, hearing about their wines, the winery operations, and checking out the vineyards. It wasn't such a bad day to spend at work! These photos are from Lemelson, an organic wine producer. In the photo is one of my roomates from Australia.

What a view!

2008-09-16T21:46:00.000-07:00

Here's the view coming into the winery. Not too bad, huh?

Everything has been going great. It is not "harvest" yet, but they have been keeping us busy (hence why my postings have decreased!).

I'm finally here

2008-09-11T17:57:00.001-07:00

Well, it is now thursday and my 4th day of work. As you can see I am quite busy, plus it is hard to get access to a computer. So far things are going great. I am working in the lab and helping out as needed in the cellar. My cellar work has been all manual labor....like working on the bottling line glueing boxes together containing wine.....but the lab related stuff is interesting and I definately have the opportunity to ask questions and learn all about wine making!

Harvest hasn't started yet, so we are working pretty normal hours...about 40 hours a week. But that will change soon and I will be working 12-14 hour days, 6 days a week. Luckily they keep us busy both at work and after work - lots of harvest parties and tastings at other wineries. Monday we were introduced to the infamous dive bar...Lumpy's. Wednesday I got to go out for a nice dinner (I have been eating a lot of chips and salsa and cheese this week for dinner), apparently Nick Cage's fav restaurant in the area.

This weekend we get to move into our permanent housing (it wasn't quite ready). Lot's of fun stuff going on tommorrow and the weekend. I'll share all the details later and a picture of the view I've had in the morning when I walk to work (it's about a 5 minute walk).

Portland...almost there

2008-09-11T17:47:00.001-07:00

We're getting close.....Spent sunday night in Portland (yes I am a little behind on my blogs....but work is busy!). My new friend Nat (thanks for the intro Tommy!) took us around the city and for his favorite bar for a beer. We drove through the neighborhoods to get a better intro to Portland. Went to the rose garden and finished our night off at a BBQ held at Nat's friends house. According to Nat, BBQs are a very portland thing to do. They served a tortilla/chili type soup, tamales with all sorts of toppings, and last but not least flan. That's my kind of BBQ!

More fun in Boise

2008-09-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

We got up somewhat late but were still able to bike ride into downtown for some brunch. We cruised through the greenbelt (a park along the river in town) and since there was an hour wait for brunch decided to check out the saturday morning market. Lots of fun stuff to buy and eat, and we managed to find wine tastings! All before our first meal of the day. Had a yummy brunch (mmm... mimosas), then rode to an art festival. Also got to see an exhibit called American Cockroach. I highly recommend - if you are not scared of insects...esp cockroaches. It was interesting, but then again I studied entomology for two semesters.

At night, we had an opportunity to attend a cd release party for a co-worker of Jenna who plays the ukelele.

Had a nice time in Boise. Thanks Jenna!

Boise IDAHO

2008-09-11T17:32:00.001-07:00

Never thought I would visit Boise, but one of Sarah's friends Jenna (a fellow Allentonian) lives there, so we thought it would be a good place to spend the weekend on the last leg to Oregon.
We had a rough drive from Jackson hole, we were both very tired, but arrived in Boise early enough to catch a Jazz concert. The city is pretty cool. Not very big, but a nice downtown area with restaurants and shops. They seem to have alot of activities going on. What I liked about Boise is Jenna mentioned it barely ever rares and no humidity! Plus everyone bikes everywhere. Kind of reminded me of Amsterdam with all the bikes lines up and locked to trees.

Jackson Hole Rocks

2008-09-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

Our last night before heading to Boise to stay with Jenna, we opted for a little civilization and stayed in Jackson Hole. Finally some food not cooked over our single burner stove. Let's just say we had a great time and meet some interesting people! We ate at the Gun Barrel...had bison carpaccio, elk chops, venison brautwurst and last but not least, bison prime rib. Good thing I never went on that skinny bitch diet, ha ha.

Went out to the Silver Dollar bar, then to the infamous Cowboy bar, and lastly to a local spot called the Tavern. Of course there is always an after party somewhere as well!

The great thing about traveling is the interesting people you meet. We were almost convinced to stay the weekend in the hole, but knew we had to travel onward....I'm sure we'll be back.

Hiking in the Tetons

2008-09-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

We ended up taking an almost 10 mile hike. Needless to say, we were pretty tired afterwards! We went further than expected as we were trying to find a moose that was spotted down the trail. We did end up seeing him, however, he was napping, so we only saw the antlers. Well, we got lucky and saw 2 other moose on the way out. They were super close, and though pretty mellow, at one point we did quickly move out of the way as they were coming at us...

A shout out to all our hiker friends we met!

The GRAND TETONS

2008-09-04T09:42:00.001-07:00

We left Yellowstone and are now in the Grand Tetons. Got here around dinnertime and took a hike around Coulter Bay. Of course we made our own path....you don't have to stay on the path in the Tetons!!!!

Fly fishing fun

2008-09-04T09:39:00.001-07:00

For all those who like fishing, I thought this was a cool photo.

Where r the Grizzlies?

2008-09-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we've seen just about all the wildlife in the park, but no Grizzlies. Sarah is a bit obsessed with finding at least one bear...so we stopped a lot alongside the road and explored a bit in the woods by the streams. Still no bears...but we did find some fox fur....

Old Faithful...not as faithful as ever

2008-09-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

Although you have to see it, I didn't think Old Faithful was as grand as I thought it would be. It didn't rise that high and "the show" only lasted for 2 minutes...if that. Regardless, here are some photos. Before and after. Again, there is alot of steam so it is hard to view the actual geyser.

Midway Geyser Basin

2008-09-04T09:17:00.001-07:00

This place ties for my favorite site in the park. It was very steamy because of the differentials in temperatures (springs are hot, it is cold out...) but it was still beautiful. As you can see from the first pic, the water overflows into the Firehole stream (hot mixing with cold). The two biggest basins are the Excelsior and the Grand Prismatic. Again, lots of thermophiles making the water pretty colors. Here we also saw brilliant orange (one of my favorite colors...).

It's really hard to show the beauty, that's why I included one of the signs. We were supposed to do a hike to get an aerial view (like the one on the sign), but it was too steamy. We wouldn't have been able to see it clearly. Oh well...

Mammoth Hot Springs

2008-09-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

There are alot of hot springs in Yellowstone with thermal activity - these photos are of the Mammoth hot springs. The thermophiles (bacteria that thrive in hot water) create the unique colors in the springs. And no, you can't go in....

There were alot of tourists here and we were getting a lot of strange looks and some chuckles since we had Lance and Tatanka out (Sarah was very embarrassed to be carrying Tatanka around). Lance is thinking about surfing in the last photo. He misses his board.

Grand Canyon Waterfall

2008-09-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

The pinnacle of the hike was the waterfall. At the end of the trail we decided to venture down to the bottom of the waterfall to check it out. We were already exhausted (we're still sick and this was 3 hours into our hike). It was totally worth climbing back up those 328 stairs though.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

2008-09-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

All I can say is breathtaking. There are alot of unique things we saw in yellowstone, but for the pure beauty of the canyon, this was one of my favorite things we experienced. We took a more secluded hike up to artists point, then walked on the rim along the river. In the last picture you can see Sarah (far away). If you veered off the path, it was thousands of feet to the bottom....so you had to be careful when near the side :) No guardrails here.

Mudpots

2008-09-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

We came across these mudpots in a hike. It was much cooler finding things this way than driving up to them and walking across wooden planks for viewing. Unfortunately (and fortunately) most of Yellowstone is like that. However, it is important because it preserves the environment. There is already alot of damage to the unique ecosystems here.

This mudpot reminded me of a piece of art I had seen in the SoHo Guggenheim almost ten years ago. I'm not sure of the artists name but the piece was basically a large basin filled with paint (the same color as the picture) that was bubbling much the same way as these mudpots.

Wildlife

2008-09-04T07:31:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to see lots more wildlife in Yellowstone. Some commentary...

Pic #1 The Elk's breeding ground is near the rangers cabins, so there was tons of them roaming around. Apparently in a week or so they will start mating.

Pic #2 Can you spot our new traveling companion...meet Tatanka. Tatanka was hanging out with the Mule Deer.

Pic #3 More Bison. My zoom works great. A herd was crossing the river.

Pic #4 Since Sarah brought her binnoculars (it is a must out here). Up on top of a hill in the Lamar valley is a great place to spot the wildlife. We hung out for awhile with lots of other wildlife enthusiasts.

Pic #5 A close up of a wolf. This one happened to be very close to our car. I thought it might jump in.

Yellowstone, yeah!

2008-09-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

When we got to Yellowstone we were glad we went to South Dakota first. The Black Hills in South Dakota are very serene. There are not as many tourists, the people are nicer, and there were many times when it was just me and sarah on the road or exploring the land. However, Yellowstone in one word is grand. Everything is on a much larger scale and there are many different types of ecosystems, although all stem from the volcanic/thermal activity in the earth. Check out my favorite pics from when we first got into the park (near Yellowstone Lake).

Our Labor Day

2008-09-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

Our Labor Day consisted of a lot of driving from Devils Tower to Yellowstone. We opted to take the scenic route through Bighorn National Forest....but we got a surprise. Snow! Although it was hard to see, we could still see how beautiful the scenery was. I highly recommend taking the scenic route, although, hopefully you won't get the snow!

Kevin Costner's Tatanka

2008-09-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

Since we are again with WiFi, thought I would add a pic of the bronze statutes at Tatanka. I really enjoyed them, being that I am both an art and nature lover.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

2008-09-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

We left South Dakota and headed out to Wyoming. On the way out we had an opportunity to see Tatanka (the Kevin Costner museum dedicated to bison and the Native Americans, with statues of "jumping") and Deadwood (only city in US where all houses are listed on the Historical register - lots of gambling there, Chas and Eleanor would love it there!).
We stayed at Devils Tower for the night. They filmed Close Encounters (directed by Steven Spielberg) at the campground we were at. They even showed the movie at night! Check out the pics of the view from our tent. Unfortunately it started raining right after we went to bed and was really windy. I thought for sure our tent might blow away.

Caving

2008-09-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

We had an opportunity to go "caving" via a lantern tour in Jewel Cave. It was tons of fun....of course the ranger had me and sarah guide the group back to the entrance while we headed up the rear and we got a little lost in one of the rooms. It's hard to see with a oil lantern! But we made it out....The second photo is of me coming out of part of the cave you had to crawl through!

Driving thru Custer state park

2008-09-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

The Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road - very pretty. Sarah was hanging out the window taking photos....

Our First night Camping

2008-09-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Our first night camping we stayed at Broken Arrow Campground. Alot of the campgrounds are also horse camps, so we tented next to a stable.

Crazzzzy Horse

2008-09-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

Very close in proximity, Crazy Horse was the Indians response to Mt. Rushmore. Since Indians had been protrayed in a negative way in history, they wanted to have their own monument to show and teach the positive contributions the Indians have made. Strangely though this is run by white people and me and Sarah thought a bit of a rip off monetarily compared to Mt. Rushmore. Maybe once they have it completed....but they have been working on it for 5oish years already, so who know when that will happen...

Mount Rushmore

2008-09-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Lance had fun in mount rushmore, as did me and sarah. As a kid I don't think I knew exactly where Mt Rushmore was located, but it was always a place I knew I wanted to get to eventually. So, here we are!

The Bison are roaming

2008-09-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

Back in the late 1800s the bison were almost completed eradicated. Now with special programs they have been repopulated, but not to the original amounts of course. At one point in history, bison used to be roaming all states in the US. These are bison in Custer state park.

Black Hills - Custer State Park

2008-09-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

If you want to see wildlife in South Dakota, Custer State Park is the place to go. We saw prong horned antelope, bison, burros, and mountain goats...This is my favorite Burro picture. Why is it so entertaining when animals hump each other?

Other touristy stops

2008-08-31T07:31:00.000-07:00

We also stopped at the corn palace in Mitchell S.D. and Wall Drugstore. I wouldn't bother with the corn palace. I think in its heyday it was probably cool, but was lacking in greatness now. Although a total tourist trap, I loved the Wall drugstore! They have billboards everywhere, so you just have to stop (see photo). It had just about everything you could think of. I bought a companion for Lance, but no it is not another gnome. I thought Lance might get jealous. Stay tuned for pictures and try to guess who Lance's new buddy is.

The Badlands

2008-08-31T07:26:00.000-07:00

Quick pic of the Badlands. The Lakota Sioux termed this region, "mako shika", meaning "the bad lands". I thought it was quite beautiful myself. I think their definition of badlands, meant something altogether different...

We're in South Dakota

2008-08-31T07:23:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the beautiful rolling hills in South Dakota - there was lots of fields of sunflowers. Pay careful attention to the background and tell me what Sarah is about to do....

Our first day

2008-08-31T07:19:00.000-07:00

Well we woke up really early in Pittsburgh...5am to be exact. We drove all day and actually made it to Sioux Falls (for all you naysayers who said we couldn't do it!). All I can say about Ohio is there is a ton of cops! One every 20 miles or so on the highway, waiting with their radar guns. Luckily we stopped speeding once we saw the first cop! After that, we were golden. You'd be amazed hot fast the Fit can go :) Also, to note. In case you are ever there, Fremont Indiana is the fireworks capitol of the country. Even though I blew up all my fireworks at the Fingerlakes on the 4th, I decided to forgo restocking. I didn't think the winery would appreciate...

Bryan....

2008-08-31T07:14:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a pic of my honey in front of our house. It's is going to be a hard 3 months.

Leaving Philly

2008-08-31T07:09:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share some photos today of what we have been up to since we left on Thursday. So, that you understand why there is a garden gnome in many photos, my good friend Tommy let me borrow his gnome, Lance (aka moondoogie) to guide us in our journeys. He has a long past...sorority house to europe. We thought it was time for Lance to enjoy the great West.

Jen's Serene Adventure

2008-08-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

Check out the "shout-out" from the founder and a teacher of mine at the Wine School of Philadelphia.
http://www.wineclass.net/the-wine-world/jens-serene-adventure/
I have to thank Keith for helping me find my path towards the wine industry. A toast to Keith!

Hasta la vista Philadelphia

2008-08-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

Today is the day of departure. First stop is Pittsburgh. Roni and Dave have been gracious enough to let us stay at their place tonight. Next stop is Sioux Falls....if we can make it, it's a looooong drive. Still have lots of packing to go. Hopefully we can fit everything in the Fit, ha ha.
Stay tuned for exciting adventures to come.

From Pharm to the Farm....

2008-08-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, today was my last day of work. It was sad, but I was overwhelmed with all the well wishes and words of encouragement from my co-workers and knew I made the right decision. I am so lucky to have the opportunity to follow my dreams! Thanks PSGA, I will miss you!

A Quote from Sideways....

2008-08-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

Miles (trying to explain to Maya why he is so into pinot noirs): "It's a hard grape to grow. As you know. Right? It's, uh, it's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It's, you know, it's not a survivor like cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and thrive even when it's neglected. No, pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And, in fact, it can only grow in these really specific, little tucked-away corners of the world. And only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand pinot's potential can then coax it into its fullest expression."