Recipe

October 25, 2012 Reply

I finally got a chance to make a recipe that I had been wanting to try for weeks. My sister lives in Chicago and told me she had recently tried some appetizers that were based on a P,B and J sandwich but also included stinky French cheese and it was also served hot. This may sound unappealing at best but that’s why I wanted to try it. Plus… another excuse to drink Napa Cellars wine.

Ingredients:

Sour Dough Bread

Cashew Butter

Fig Jam/Jelly

Raclette Cheese

Butter

Assembly: Pretty straight forward, just put cashew butter on both pieces of bread, it sticks together better.

Butter both sides and  Panini press it.  Or you can toast it like a grilled cheese in a frying pan

Raclette cheese and Sauvignon Blanc are a good pair so that’s what I went with… ’ not an expert wine/food pair-er but it tasted great to me.  You have to try this one, inexpensive and super easy to make, but lots of complex flavors.

 

Night Shift

October 19, 2012 Reply

Yesterday i was traded from morning crew to night shift. So after finally getting a full nights sleep for the first time in weeks, I woke up at a reasonable hour and accomplished some things that I had taken for granted when i worked normal people hours. Its amazing how long things get put off when you work every hour that other businesses are open. Being that i now start my shift at noon i was able to get a haircut and cash my last two checks. Sounds good right? But I would give that up in a minute to not have traffic on the way to work.

One too many

October 6, 2012 Reply

It’s the end of a long week. And after a day of slamming my shin into a rung on a latter, and shoveling the slipperiest tank imaginable,  I had to laugh a little when I saw the white limousine in front of me, on the drive home, roll down the rear window to allow one of its patrons to, well, evacuate the excess wine that had built up in their system. I’m sorry for laughing, and feel better whoever you are…

P.S. If that was Napa Cellars wine that would have never happened.

First 12 Hour Day

September 27, 2012 2 Comments

After weeks of waiting, things finally got crazy. The morning began with 3 Hours of pump overs, then transitioned to running back and forth from the stem truck back to the wheel to wash tanks. Over 200 tons of Zin and Pinot, plus a little Sa Blanc, were crushed and sent to tanks to begin the fermentation process

No it’s not snowing during harvest Sauvignon Blanc + Dry Ice: The dry ice is actually not intended to keep the grapes cool. Its purpose is to create a barrier between the grapes and the oxygen in the air. As the dry ice melts, the Co2 turns directly from a solid to a gas. The Co2  gas is heavier that air and blankets the grapes. This process is necessary to keep the grapes from turning brown or oxidizing.

Stem Truck

 

Pretty self explanatory: Before the grapes are crushed, the stems are separated, then conveyed to this truck to be transported to a dumping area

Beginning of Harvest

September 19, 2012 Reply

Sun Rising

Punched In 4:53 AM
 
It sure is nice driving to work never seeing tail lights in front of you or headlights behind you. Of course, driving home will be a different story, probably consisting of a thousand rental cars slamming on the brakes every time there is a driveway and a sign with French or Italian words on it

Punched Out 1:33 PM

Hello From Andrew

September 18, 2012 Reply

Hi, I’m Andrew, and I’m beginning my second season working harvest for Napa Cellars. I am writing this blog to show people that Napa Cellars wine is made by real people, and is not some magic elixir that bubbles up from the Napa Valley soil. NC wines are truly made by hand with passion and hard work. This blog will be showing my life through the 2012 harvest, and if last year’s harvest was any indication, there will be lots of swirling glasses and spitting into buckets, and blog entries using phrases like “tightly wound” or “assertive without being pushy” Ha! Just kidding, Most likely a picture of harvest would show me standing knee deep in grape skins and seeds franticly shoveling trying to win a free lunch, or possibly my purple t-shirt that I swore was white when I left the house, or driving a forklift stacking barrels to the ceiling of the warehouse hoping there won’t be an earthquake anytime soon.