Making wine!

I have been having a blast in SF catching up with friends at wine bars, dinner parties, sitting on Marina Green and the most fun: making wine! I joined Lorenzo on Sunday to go to Crushcamp, a fun event offered by Crushpad, a winery in SF that buys in grapes from all over California and allows small commercial producers and private individuals to make their own wine.

I am too late in this years harvest to have joined any of the wine clubs who sometimes pitch in to make a barrel (note: a barrel makes 25 cases / 300 bottles). But at Crushcamp, you get to participate in some of the winemaking activities at the winery in the Potrero neighborhood of San Francisco. The activities you do depend on the day and what is going on.

When I went, we spent most of the time doing punch downs which is smashing down the cap of grape must as it is fermenting to stir up the juice, yeasts and grape skins. During fermentation, the juice starts to sink and the must starts to rise, so a few times a day during the nearly 2 week fermentation schedule, someone needs to punch down the cap. I did a few vats of Cabernet Sauvignon. Who knew manual labor could be so fun!

We also got to tour the facility, stick our (sanitized) forearms into the fermenting vats, and to taste some Pinot Noir at the end. I really did feel like a little kid, I was having so much fun.

Today it has started the two days of rain and wind that was predicted. I am staying inside to work from home (from my friend's house) and tonight, I move into my sublet!