In all of the roles I’ve played in a variety of wineries over the years, the hands-on stuff is what I like the best and what keeps me so enthusiastic about making wine.  But when people ask me what I do, one of the most common reactions when I tell them is hardly any reaction at all.  After all the years I’ve been involved in wine production, I’ve come to expect a blank stare from folks outside the industry when I say “I’m a winemaker”.  I’ve realized my being a winemaker usually surprises people.  The job of winemaker isn’t all that common outside of regions like Napa or Sonoma, Burgundy or Bordeaux, and I guess folks don’t really know what to make of a woman who not only likes to make wine, but really likes every facet of the production process as well.  And to a certain extent I understand this, afterall, where I come from, it is not very common for a woman to drive a forklift, much less want to take a pump apart or find out why the press isn’t working…..

 “I look behind my ears for the green….”

So, yeah, maybe I’m pretty good at my job now, but there’s a time in everybody’s life when they are young, eager, dumb, green and untried, and when I started in wine production, that’s exactly what I was.  I was also a young woman, so I probably had even less going for me in a certain sense because let’s face it, not many folks expect a whole lot from a young woman when she’s asked to “clean that tank”, and there was maybe a tendency for others to dismiss the idea that I might actually pull my weight.  And, yes, I did have a lot to learn, but, I’ve had tenacity and a certain measure of determination in my corner and in the end I was also fortunate enough to have worked side-by-side with a whole host of well, (mostly) men—cellarguys and winemakers— who were patient, helped me work through my greeness and taught me a hell of a lot (whether they know it or not). 

 “Learn how to use my hands….”

What did I learn?  How about how to drive a forklift in tight spaces; how not to drive a forklift in tight spaces; how to clean-up as quickly as possible after that forklift accident; how to rack a barrel, set-up a pump, drain a tank, do a pumpover without making a complete mess, blend, operate a bottling line, and how to throw a nerf football across the cellar accurately enough to hit your unsuspecting cellarmate in the back of the head.  The list goes on and on, but what I probably learned above all else was the satisfaction of doing physical work and also to appreciate the time, thought, effort and patience it takes to make great wine.

 “Started seeing the whole as a sum of it’s parts….”

I’ve come full circle now and I find myself teaching the same things to our crew here that all those guys taught me many years ago, and because of them and the example they set for me, I tell myself that I, too, must be patient because I started out having to be taught how to use cellar equipment and how to not screw things up.  All of this serves to remind me that in the end I’m only another cog in the gear, or, if you prefer, another grape in the bunch, but also that great wine not only comes from great grapes, but great teamwork as well. 

So, anyway, I heard the Indigo Girls sing ”Hammer and a Nail” on the radio this morning, and it reminded me of what I enjoy most about winemaking:  being active, getting my hands dirty, and enjoying the people I work with.

I gotta get out of bed
Get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands
Not just my head
I think myself in a jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand
And a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth
If you want a rose

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