I guess i'm not keeping up too well with the blog.
about a week ago we got a couple of cars....real sweet ones too. i got a 1985 toyota corona...yes corona!!! its amazing!, well actually its a P.O.S. but it gets us around. still getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road but its becoming more and more natural. its always weird taking a turn and staying to the left and theres weird yielding rules that i don't quite get and don't get me started on round-abouts... i'm surprised i haven't hit or been hit in one yet, why can't they just use intersections! the other car we got is a 198? hyundai accent...that we are finding out is in worse shape than we hoped. got both for $800 NZ a piece which is great. just hope they both last us the harvest. we had to get 2 because we do a swing shift here so some people come in the AM and others, like myself, come for the PM shift. 12 hour shifts, 7 to 7 and 1 to 1....for the most part, i guess there will be a couple times when we will be operating 24 hrs....don't know how thats going to work, but i'm not excited for that.
we also moved into a place 2 nights ago, near work in waikari, remember the beginning of the two towers where aragorn, gimli and legolas are running along the hill sides after the ork things that took pippin and merry, thats my drive to work....its a 4 bed 1 bath (if you want to call it that) house....and it came with a brazilian girl!!! and we already managed to piss her off... she put in a load of laundry last night and went to bed, when mike got home he wanted to do some laundry too, so he took out her clothes and laid them out nicely in the living room (no dryer)....but that was not ok with her... actually none of us are sure what her problem is, she doesn't know much english and none of us know portuguese so we were all puzzled, even andrea (whos 1st language is spanish) couldn't help. and i got home in the middle of it so i was just standing there...about to laugh because i haven't even met her yet and she was already angry with us. oh the drama!!!!
well things are going well other than that, very busy and no end in sight!!! have about 10 tanks and 5 bins full of must and juice...about 50000 liters pinot noir and 34000 L sauvignon blanc....and only one bin of PN is fermenting....so lots to do real soon but very exciting.
miss ya'll and keep the comments coming!!!!
Friday, March 30, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
this message comes from a land down under....
wow work started up quickly without warning!!!! got a tonnes and tonnes of pinot noir still coming in from lastnight and we are starting to get about 20 tonnes of sauvingnon blanc aka sauvy coming in tonight!!! for my shift which starts at 1pm and will go till question mark....hopefully before 4.
still no home yet, left the hostel, aka backpacker last sunday and have been saying above a bar for the past couple nights. this is turning out to be quiet the adventure!
still doing lots of sampling....i think i was out in the vineyards for 7 hours yesterdays...at work for total of 13....and we haven't even started yet.
still no home yet, left the hostel, aka backpacker last sunday and have been saying above a bar for the past couple nights. this is turning out to be quiet the adventure!
still doing lots of sampling....i think i was out in the vineyards for 7 hours yesterdays...at work for total of 13....and we haven't even started yet.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
My First Week....so far
Hello All!!!
well i finished my first week and we have the first grapes in the door. Not sure if i included everyone i work with so i'll go though them again. There is Simon the head winemaker, a kiwi( aka New Zealander), Jonny the assistant winemaker hilarious stereotype of a surfer kiwi, chris a kiwi that doesn't even like wine but wants to learn, Mike from scotland with a great accent and no expreince but a hard worker, andrea my new buddy she is from chile, romain a frenchman, ivan from italy who is having the hardest time with english but its coming along, and izaac from oregon. Had a little chat with jonny lastnight and he is very excited about the crew this year, we all get along very well and thats important for this job, relying on each others and having a good time. well back to the first week of harvest, mostly cleaning but we started the real fun yesterday afternoon, its friday here by the way, i think this blog thing posts on the wrong day and i can't figure out how to fix it. Things were a little bumpy and we had to do a little improvisation to make things work but it was fine. the winery still isn't 100% complete yet, electricians and welders still finishing up a few last things. its amazing, i guess the company was going for the most technologically advance winery in New Zealand, so many little bells and whistles...huge rotating hopper to feed the crusher, "6 pack" must chiller to cool the fruit before its sent to fermentation, 6 in SS must lines, SS transfer lines everywhere, tanks are all hooked up to the computer so we can monitor everything, lots of cool new lab equipment... its a lot of fun leaning how to use new technology.
did a lot more grape sampling....walking for miles and miles though the vineyards... its kind of boring and its hard to get good samples... say these a block of pinot noir that is 50 acres, i have to pick 20 clusters to represent the entire thing, don't know if its possible...a little frustrating at times but i'm still learning the best way to do it. then i have to go back and weigh everything to get a average cluster weight....which is really low this year, about a 1/2 to a 1/3 of usually because of really cold weather in dec/jan during when the fruit was setting. we thought we were going to get about 1000 tonnes this year but looks more like 700 tonnes (tonnes = metric ton = 2.2 tons, for all that are wondering) which is good because its the first year and it might be nice to work out any kinks with smaller lots. after i get the weight andrea or myself will get brix, pH, TA.
well last night we crushed the first friut, about 2 tonnes of Pinot noir from across the street @ the Mound vineyards....came in a little low in sugar (which we can fix) but acids where spot on and flavors are great....very exciting. fit it all in one bin and had a little trouble fork lifting it in to the winery, 3 guys had to hop on the back to keep the back wheels down, wish i had my camera for that. after a little more clean up we cracked open a few cold ones and toasted the beginning of harvest!!! hung out in the lab drinking a while and also outside with the vineyard crew. then back to the hostel for some food (9ish and starving) then shower and to a pub, but we were all exhausted so that didn't last long.
i have to work on sunday for a litte to pick more samples, still have 3/4 of the pinot at the mound that is looking really close, so i think we should have lots of pinot coming in this week, heard perhaps 3 lots a day from central down south.
The hostel is fun and all, i've met so many "unique" people, expecially the Israelis, they have some crazy storys about back home but its costing us too much!!! we went and looked at a house onthursday which is really run down, its actually comically run down, but for $45-50 a week its the best we could find that will rent for 2 months, but since we will be working different shift we'll have to get 2 cars i think...so thats going to be expensive and stressful to sell in the end. well i'm going to go do a little shopping, set up a bank account so i can get paid and try to find a place to get a SIM card from my phone so i can make calls here and short calls home, and someone said theres a $10 1000 text message thing, so i might get that and use that to communicate. hope all is well back where you are and keep the comments coming!!!
well i finished my first week and we have the first grapes in the door. Not sure if i included everyone i work with so i'll go though them again. There is Simon the head winemaker, a kiwi( aka New Zealander), Jonny the assistant winemaker hilarious stereotype of a surfer kiwi, chris a kiwi that doesn't even like wine but wants to learn, Mike from scotland with a great accent and no expreince but a hard worker, andrea my new buddy she is from chile, romain a frenchman, ivan from italy who is having the hardest time with english but its coming along, and izaac from oregon. Had a little chat with jonny lastnight and he is very excited about the crew this year, we all get along very well and thats important for this job, relying on each others and having a good time. well back to the first week of harvest, mostly cleaning but we started the real fun yesterday afternoon, its friday here by the way, i think this blog thing posts on the wrong day and i can't figure out how to fix it. Things were a little bumpy and we had to do a little improvisation to make things work but it was fine. the winery still isn't 100% complete yet, electricians and welders still finishing up a few last things. its amazing, i guess the company was going for the most technologically advance winery in New Zealand, so many little bells and whistles...huge rotating hopper to feed the crusher, "6 pack" must chiller to cool the fruit before its sent to fermentation, 6 in SS must lines, SS transfer lines everywhere, tanks are all hooked up to the computer so we can monitor everything, lots of cool new lab equipment... its a lot of fun leaning how to use new technology.
did a lot more grape sampling....walking for miles and miles though the vineyards... its kind of boring and its hard to get good samples... say these a block of pinot noir that is 50 acres, i have to pick 20 clusters to represent the entire thing, don't know if its possible...a little frustrating at times but i'm still learning the best way to do it. then i have to go back and weigh everything to get a average cluster weight....which is really low this year, about a 1/2 to a 1/3 of usually because of really cold weather in dec/jan during when the fruit was setting. we thought we were going to get about 1000 tonnes this year but looks more like 700 tonnes (tonnes = metric ton = 2.2 tons, for all that are wondering) which is good because its the first year and it might be nice to work out any kinks with smaller lots. after i get the weight andrea or myself will get brix, pH, TA.
well last night we crushed the first friut, about 2 tonnes of Pinot noir from across the street @ the Mound vineyards....came in a little low in sugar (which we can fix) but acids where spot on and flavors are great....very exciting. fit it all in one bin and had a little trouble fork lifting it in to the winery, 3 guys had to hop on the back to keep the back wheels down, wish i had my camera for that. after a little more clean up we cracked open a few cold ones and toasted the beginning of harvest!!! hung out in the lab drinking a while and also outside with the vineyard crew. then back to the hostel for some food (9ish and starving) then shower and to a pub, but we were all exhausted so that didn't last long.
i have to work on sunday for a litte to pick more samples, still have 3/4 of the pinot at the mound that is looking really close, so i think we should have lots of pinot coming in this week, heard perhaps 3 lots a day from central down south.
The hostel is fun and all, i've met so many "unique" people, expecially the Israelis, they have some crazy storys about back home but its costing us too much!!! we went and looked at a house onthursday which is really run down, its actually comically run down, but for $45-50 a week its the best we could find that will rent for 2 months, but since we will be working different shift we'll have to get 2 cars i think...so thats going to be expensive and stressful to sell in the end. well i'm going to go do a little shopping, set up a bank account so i can get paid and try to find a place to get a SIM card from my phone so i can make calls here and short calls home, and someone said theres a $10 1000 text message thing, so i might get that and use that to communicate. hope all is well back where you are and keep the comments coming!!!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
working hard!!!
sorry i haven't posted in a couple days, work has started and its great!! was out in the vineyard all morning picking samples and then came back to the lab to process them...not too exciting yet. but looks like we might be getting our first fruit on friday, Pinot noir from the estate vineyard across the street, The mound, so very exciting. spent all yesterday cleaning out tanks getting them ready for harvest, most of the tanks are brand new so we had to do a full scrub on the insides with some nasty chemicals to remove anything from the welding. monday i spent most of the day cleaning and organizing the lab...funny, i think i have done that at every job i've had, really making the lab my home. well andrea was made the lab leader but she always has me help her, i'm not complaining though, she's so fun, always laughing.
well i need to find a ride to the grocery store to get something to eat for dinner, hungry after the teck through the vineyard!!! caio!
well i need to find a ride to the grocery store to get something to eat for dinner, hungry after the teck through the vineyard!!! caio!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Happy St. Patricks Day!!!
well i don't know about you but i had a great st. patricks day yesterday...oh wait, most of you will be having it tonight!!!
well yesterday i think i met all but 2 people i'll be working with, and they all seem great.
in the afternoon i met a couple other people here at the hostel, including Ivan another coworker from NE Italy, he doesn't know english very well and he's very shy about it. a couple of us decided to go to the grocery store, pick and save. i went with the girl i'll be working with andrea and an Israeli named guy or he goes by geyser, we took his car. pick and save is like a mini costco, warehouse style shopping. I picked up some sandwich makings and beer for the party later. the beer is called flame, extreme brewing!!! funny packaging.
had a little adventure driving back, got a little lost, too many oneway streets and not to mention they drive on the wrong side of the road!!! its crazy making turns, turning into the left lane instead of the right, gets me everytime.
found out kiwis aren't punctual at all!!! which is a great thing i guess. Johnny, the assistant winemaker and host for the bbq tonight, said he would pick us all up around 3. well he didn't actually pick us up till about 4:45...good thing andrea has a phone and text messaging or we might have given up on him and started our own party here. Johnny is hilarious, stereotypical Kiwi. i think andrea and i were the only ones that could understand him. hes got a very thick accent and kiwis talk really fast, so ivan has no clue what hes saying and romain has to keep asking him to slow down. we arrived at his house, great little garage in back and a little garden with tables where we hung out. met a couple other coworkers: chris a local kiwi, well travelled but has no wine experience, he thinks they all taste the same. and Isaac Johnny's fiance's brother...and guess what they are from yamhill near mcminnville!!! oregonians, what are the chances, small world. had a great time, lots of drinking, great bbq and more drinking, johnny pulled me aside at one point and we had a really good chat about what i wanted to get out of this job, anything special, and responsibilities i wanted...its funny, that was one of my biggest worries, getting here and hating where i lived, not getting along with my co-workers and the job not being very fun and being stuck doing a job not learning anything....started a bonfire, played some darts, johnny getting sloppy drunk, hehehe, andrea told me she was really nervous about drinking in front of her boss, but after seeing him like that he was very relived. after it got pretty dark we all walked down to the beach and lit off some fireworks and played in the surf, its like oregon in the fall here. we all got cold so we started to head back, i had to help johnny the last bit of the way, st. pactricks day!!! yeah, good times. I'm so excited to start work, all these people are so great. well i think thats all that happened...i need to go recover a little more.
well yesterday i think i met all but 2 people i'll be working with, and they all seem great.
in the afternoon i met a couple other people here at the hostel, including Ivan another coworker from NE Italy, he doesn't know english very well and he's very shy about it. a couple of us decided to go to the grocery store, pick and save. i went with the girl i'll be working with andrea and an Israeli named guy or he goes by geyser, we took his car. pick and save is like a mini costco, warehouse style shopping. I picked up some sandwich makings and beer for the party later. the beer is called flame, extreme brewing!!! funny packaging.
had a little adventure driving back, got a little lost, too many oneway streets and not to mention they drive on the wrong side of the road!!! its crazy making turns, turning into the left lane instead of the right, gets me everytime.
found out kiwis aren't punctual at all!!! which is a great thing i guess. Johnny, the assistant winemaker and host for the bbq tonight, said he would pick us all up around 3. well he didn't actually pick us up till about 4:45...good thing andrea has a phone and text messaging or we might have given up on him and started our own party here. Johnny is hilarious, stereotypical Kiwi. i think andrea and i were the only ones that could understand him. hes got a very thick accent and kiwis talk really fast, so ivan has no clue what hes saying and romain has to keep asking him to slow down. we arrived at his house, great little garage in back and a little garden with tables where we hung out. met a couple other coworkers: chris a local kiwi, well travelled but has no wine experience, he thinks they all taste the same. and Isaac Johnny's fiance's brother...and guess what they are from yamhill near mcminnville!!! oregonians, what are the chances, small world. had a great time, lots of drinking, great bbq and more drinking, johnny pulled me aside at one point and we had a really good chat about what i wanted to get out of this job, anything special, and responsibilities i wanted...its funny, that was one of my biggest worries, getting here and hating where i lived, not getting along with my co-workers and the job not being very fun and being stuck doing a job not learning anything....started a bonfire, played some darts, johnny getting sloppy drunk, hehehe, andrea told me she was really nervous about drinking in front of her boss, but after seeing him like that he was very relived. after it got pretty dark we all walked down to the beach and lit off some fireworks and played in the surf, its like oregon in the fall here. we all got cold so we started to head back, i had to help johnny the last bit of the way, st. pactricks day!!! yeah, good times. I'm so excited to start work, all these people are so great. well i think thats all that happened...i need to go recover a little more.
Friday, March 16, 2007
my first night.... Happy St. "Practice" Day
well after a nice needed nap i took off for a little walk around town...for being the biggest town on the south island, this isn't that big, maybe i'm missing something but the "big" downtown area is only a few square blocks, but plenty to keep ya busy. got a delicious kabob wrap from a street vender that was very tasty and heard some traditional irish music in the town square. went back to the hostel, chatted with some of the other...no one else is from the US, its kind of cool, and best of all they all speak english!! ever friday(i'm a day ahead remember) they have a bbq so we had some steaks on the grill and some bbq'd tomatoes (tried it, still don't like it) and onions, with a side of pasta salad, and beer and wine. i found a bottle of waipara hills sauv blanc at a local alcohol store, it was pretty good, heaps of tropical flavors, made me really excited to get to work. after the bbq i went with a couple other guys and 3 german girls down to a pub that one of the guys here works at and had a couple more beers. had a really good time.
so far have only met 2 people that i'll be working with, romain a french guy that i have been hanging out with a lot and this morning andrea, a chilian girl, arrived, very petite and cute. this afternoon we are having a bbq at the assistant winemakers house with everyone that has arrived so far, which might be everyone, so far i'm very excited, everyone else has similar backgrounds and none of us know what to expect.
miss ya'll
so far have only met 2 people that i'll be working with, romain a french guy that i have been hanging out with a lot and this morning andrea, a chilian girl, arrived, very petite and cute. this afternoon we are having a bbq at the assistant winemakers house with everyone that has arrived so far, which might be everyone, so far i'm very excited, everyone else has similar backgrounds and none of us know what to expect.
miss ya'll
Thursday, March 15, 2007
i made it!!!
Well i made it...25hours+ of travel and i finally am at the hostel...its ok but seen better.
Pretty uneventful for remiyac traveling standards...only had a 30 minute delay in auckland.
I actually was able to sleep most of the way on my long 13hr flight from san francisco to auckland. took some great photos on my flight from auckland to christchurch. this place is amazing looking.
already met one of the guys i'll be working with, a french guy, couldn'tunderstand his name but i'll figure it out. but i need to take a nap...its like 10:20am here on the 16th.....2:20pm on the 15 back home in GP.
i'll keep in touch
Pretty uneventful for remiyac traveling standards...only had a 30 minute delay in auckland.
I actually was able to sleep most of the way on my long 13hr flight from san francisco to auckland. took some great photos on my flight from auckland to christchurch. this place is amazing looking.
already met one of the guys i'll be working with, a french guy, couldn'tunderstand his name but i'll figure it out. but i need to take a nap...its like 10:20am here on the 16th.....2:20pm on the 15 back home in GP.
i'll keep in touch
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
at the airport....
well I'm at the medford airport...and what do you know free internet! so I guess I have offically started my trip! I take off in about 45 minutes, which shouldn't be too long considering I already have had 2 scooners of widmer hefe in the airport bar. nice and relaxed now. well I arrive at my final destination at 8 am local time which is about 20 1/2 hours from here, I think...ouch, I hope I can sleep on the plane.
welp I better get in the security line, declare my liquids and all. talk to u soon!...
welp I better get in the security line, declare my liquids and all. talk to u soon!...
Friday, March 09, 2007
Last Day (for a while) at EdenVale
Had a nice little lunch with everyone from work, cleaned up the winery a little, "tasted" a couple glasses of wine and said my goodbyes. Now i need to get working on packing and getting all set up for my trip.
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