Grunt Work

Over half way through my first week, one of the main points Matt stated during our formal induction has proved true: “We in the winemaking business are really just professional cleaners.” The things I have cleaned this week should be cleaned by a professional. Fermenters on Tuesday, with caustic acid and citric acid. Smut laden cellar floors yesterday and spider and bird infested warehouses along with muddy drainage canals at the Branson facility today. Ugh. It has certainly not been glamorous, but obviously, it is extremely important to maintain cleanliness in a wine-making facility. That and I am really looking forward to my first Australian paycheck, and since that seems to require picking up dead birds and dodging spiders, I’m their girl.

mucking drainage canals - with a sincere smile

In addition to a little cleaning yesterday, we had an extensive confined space training (required as we have to climb into fermenters from time to time, which are considered “confined spaces”). It was about 4 hours of classroom time, 2 hours of role-playing (I had to pretend to be high on chemicals and then pass out at one point), followed by an hour-long written exam. About 95% of it applied to miners so it was basically a massive waste of time. Safety stuff that’s not a waste of time: the fashionable steel toed boots, neon reflective vest and safety glasses I purchased earlier this week (pictured above). It's a long way from suits and my Cole Haan Nike Airs!



scary venemous red back



A note about the Branson facility… as you can see from the pic below, the Branson fermenters, while covered by a roof, are essentially completely outdoors. This is why the birds are such an issue and they have someone come out to exterminate them with relative regularity. The nasty part is that the person who exterminates them is not responsible for picking them up (nor was anyone else, until we arrived). Once the fermentation begins, we’ve been told that the birds no longer come around because of the carbon dioxide. Unfortunatley, I do not think that applies to the massive venemous spiders. 

Branson's outdoor fermenters

Between cleaning bird bits and scrubbing various parts of machinery at Branson, we had a wonderful lunch at the Marananga facility. They recently had a brick pizza oven installed here for Cellar Door guests, but staffers get to enjoy the oven on Thursdays. As there were several distributors in town, Michael was on-site and had us participate in a little Louis Jadot tasting guessing game. Best 3 hour lunch I’ve had in a while : )

the view from the Marananga facility

Tomorrow will be fabulous. We’ll have to do about two hours of cleaning in the morning, but then Michael (the owner) and Matt (the head winemaker) are rescuing us to do some bottle and barrel tasting. In addition to tasting Two Hands, it sounds like Michael will be bringing in various bottles from vineyards all around Australia. After that, we’ll be heading somewhere for a nice lunch with them and then we’ll have an early dismissal.

The plan for the weekend is to head into Adelaide where a huge music festival will be kicking off on Friday afternoon. Then on to Norwood on Sunday where the Barossa Valley Wine and Food Festival will be in full swing.

Best of luck to those who are heading off to Logistics this weekend! And much love and comfort to my family and extended family, celebrating the beautiful life of kindest man who I've had the honor of knowing.