Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Land Ho!

It's hard to leave any party in the middle, when the bass is just starting to thump and upper lips are beading with sweat. But leave I must. And I did. Just before the last of the Cabernet was due in, I took leave of Mrs. Clean, The Captain, NayNay, Junior, El Rey de los Burros. They were sump deep in thrice daily pumpovers and pre-press pieage. Still working 14 hour days and eating meat between bread for every meal. I've heard from them and the Harvest finished off nicely. We brought in a total of 72 tons of fruit, 25% more than predicted, and most of the ferments were, in the fax parlance of Ms. Turley - F.F. (fuckin' fabulous).

A quick trip back to Portland to trade in my ragged t-shirts and pick up some long underwear. (A big thanks to my tolerant friends and their comfortable guest rooms.) The Oregon Harvest seemed good, though off to a slow start. Then winging on my preferred airline to The Old World (in wine speak) - Europe: Germany.

That's where I am now, just entering my second week of Vintage in The Mosel Valley. Harvest was two weeks in when I got here, so there was no time to get acclimated. I'm working for Weingut (winery) Dr. Loosen, which also includes Gebrüder (brothers) Loosen, an arm that produces less expensive wines like the 'Dr.L' Riesling that's in your local supermarket, and J.L. Wolf, an estate in the Pfalz region that has its own facilities. The winery, under Ernst (Erni) Loosen and his winemaker Bernhard (Berni) Schug, has redefined German Riesling across the globe. With more attention to vineyard sites and less manipulation in the cellar, plus endless marketing of what globetrotting Erni calls the 'Rocky Horror Riesling Show,' they have triumphed internationally both qualitatively and financially.

The wines have been made forever in a dingy cellar in Bernkastel-Kues, but this year the entire operation, offices, warehouse and bottling line included, has moved to new digs 20K west in an industrial suburb of Wittlich. That is where I'm working, and living - in a four room apartment next to the accounting ladies' offices. It's comfortable, though a bit remote and factory stark. When all the people go home at 5pm, I feel like we are little factory mice left alone in the half light to scurry about. But there's enough work to keep me and my two Aussie compatriots busy, and we can always pedal through the fields and past the steeples into Wittlich for a taste of culture and maybe a döner kebab.

The winery is impressive. We have over one hundred stainless steel tanks. Ranging from 25,000 liters (we have 11 of these) for the bulk wine, down to a wee 50 liters for the Trockenbeerenauslese - liquid gold that is treated as such. Oh yeah, there's that monster 100,00 liter tank just outside our balcony as well. Wine and juice is in constant flow here. There are three presses. Most grapes are pressed for a three hour cycle, with the green grapes for dry wine being crushed and left to macerate a bit before hitting the presses and the rest of the grapes going right in the hopper. The must (juice) goes directly from these machines to settling tanks where the next morning they are fined with bentonite and charcoal. We then add gelatine and do a floatation with nitrogen. This unique manipulation separates the juice cleanly from the schmutz. We then pump/rack the clear juice into fermentation tanks where it will be innoculated.

That's enough winespeak for now. I'm off to get some lunch before my evening shift begins. Cheers!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

you must be the happiest ever with the sea of impressive tanks! have some riesling for me, lv -julia

8:32 PM  

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