Today was a long and fruitful day. 

first some background…

6 years ago I started working as a plant manager for a winery, that is how I started in the wine business… learned from the best the  art of winemaking and  6 years later I am a winemaker… next step… viticulturist.

yes I know, you have to go to agronomy school for that… I am not, nor will I ever be an agronomy engineer, nor a viticulturist for that matter, but I will try my best to learn as much as possible.

Fact is that I have to learn, I have to know just about everything there is to know about vines because now I am the Operation Manager, that means that I will have to be in charge of the vineyard as well as the winery. so what do you do when such a great opportunity lands in your head? you travel to meet the best of the best… and you just cruise along to see what you can catch along the way.

Yesterday I arrived at sacramento, drove around for a while then started my way to St Helena. Arrived at the Meadowood hotel, registered and got to my room… 

Monday morning… 9 am Kelly pick me up, we drove up the hills to get to a vineyard called  Lake ridge, a vineyard so perfectly planted that you  could see there are no failed vines, a great feat considering that the soil was just one huge rock that they had to dynamite to in order to plant…yeah… dynamite… make a hole… plant a vineyard, but not just any vineyard… plant a perfect vineyard, a vineyard where everything aligns on 45º of the true north…

Went down to the valley to see Hour Glass blue line vineyards, here we found Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Cab. Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot of different ages, all growing in the same property and all in great shape.  Saw new ways of planting that I had never seen before.  Kelly explained the importance of distance between the vines and the spurs on the vines.

From there we went to Larkmead vineyards, I had already been to larkmead for wine Tasting, Dan the assistant winemaker is a really cool guy. But not today, today, only vineyards and the importance of doing it right the first time as opposed to correcting mistakes…

Different trellis, different cordone, different direction of the vines, different pruning… its all different…

from there we went for sushi and a drink… it was already midday… back at the hotel for some relax time, there will be more to come tomorrow…

for now, just chilling and relaxing… with a bottle of Harland wine by my side…

Z.