This post is in response to Ben’s comments to my previous post “Artisan is a Relative Term”, below:

• Ben Says:
  April 26th, 2006 at 9:43 pm eIt’s funny. My spell check doesn’t recognize “artisinal.”        

  Hey Annette, I’m going to ask you to generalize. At around what case production would you say it becomes impossible for the winemaker to be truly hands on and it becomes more of an administrative position. I know it all depends on the operation, but at what point is hand crafted labor forced to give way to assembly lines? 5,000, 10,000 cases? 20,000?

• 
  Hi Ben,
  Artisanal isn’t in my spell check, either, but hey, this is my blog so I can take a liberty here and there. (Hee, hee)

  As far as your question about winery size, that is hard to say and really depends upon the operation, the winemaker, and the culture of the company.  I can try and answer your question based only on my own experience:   I have worked in a winery that produced 50,000 cases/year, and the winemaker was still very much hands-on and involved in the physical work.  I have worked in a few wineries that made 400,000-600,000 cases a year and in those wineries the winemakers did a lot of desk work and went to a lot of meetings, and there were cellar crews that took care of the process from beginning to end.  The winemakers in the 400,000 case winery, however, were in the cellar smelling barrels, checking for leaks and sanitation problems, and were as aware as one can be in that kind of environment of what was going on.  In the 600,000 case winery, I was the one going around, smelling barrels, checking for leaks, etc., and my observations went up (maybe)through the chain of command (I wasn’t the winemaker at that winery, just a cellar rat).

  So, take from that what you will.  Artisan really is a relative term and depends upon one’s own perspective.  I can sit here and type all day about all the hands-on things we do here, and the way I look at it it really is hands-on, but there are folks that make wine here in California that destem their grapes by hand, don’t own a pump, and make only a few barrels of wine (George Wine Co.) each year—that’s a serious hands-on commitment and one I wouldn’t be prepared to take on anytime soon.

  So, I wish I could give you a better answer, but, alas, there are no easy answers, especially when it comes to the world of wine.  At least we are talking about wine here—how onerous is it to dig a little deeper to find out more about what one is drinking?  Maybe, it could be as bad as just having a few more empty bottles at the end of the day?  Cheers!

  
  

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