Work Ends

(BEFORE)

(AFTER)

We are done. Almost two full months of work, about eighty tons of fruit, a backache (lol) and we are done. All the 2008 wines are resting comfortably in barrels stacked neatly in the cave. It's a cool feeling accompanied by a sense of accomplishment to have been part of a great team to make all of this happen. I worked hard, learned a lot and met lots of people. I saw old friends (does a year and a half count as "old"?) and made new ones. I saw people truly dedicated to the craft as well as the occasional pretender.

To me harvest was long hours, sore hands, aching muscles, wet clothes, Andy's coffee, Tacqueria Santa Rosa, foggy cool mornings, warm (sometimes hot) afternoons, long evening phone calls home, Racer 5 IPA, text message updates, great fruit, lots of laughs, and teamwork.

It's too early to say how the '08 wines will turn out - those judgments come much later. Whatever the verdict proves to be, we did the best we could under the circumstances and that will have to do for now. As a trial lawyer, it's me standing alone before the jury. This fall, it was me standing as part of a great team. I will miss it and I will be back.

I'll post again with pics from our weekend partying like rock stars - where this blog goes from there - I dunno!