How to Feed a Harvest Crew?
October 16th, 2006 by Annette
When I worked in Napa, it was pretty easy to come by good food during harvest. One had only to go into town and go to Vallergas to get a pretty decent sandwich and there are some great Mexican restaurants in Napa Valley if one had a hankering for a burrito. Some folks even delivered home-made food to wineries and their hungry workers and some wineries supplied catered meals during the crush also. But, alas,  the epicurean landscape here in Marina is mighty different of that in the great wine land to the north. There is a fantastic Thai restaurant here and a pretty good deli, and an alright Mexican place. But — by and large– this is fast food heaven, which isn’t so good if one isn’t a fast food gourmand.Â
 What to do? How do you feed a bunch of wine workers who’ve been working for 8 hours and have at least 8 more to go?   For a few harvests we tried take-out, but that only lasts for so long before everyone gets tired of the same old stuff day after day. Finally this year I decided enough suffering(!) and that I would do the cooking for the crew this year. So, we got a hot plate and dishes and silverware and Voila! we were good to go. I’ve been cooking up stews and soups and will soon do a pot roast, and everyone says this is a good thing. We are all able to take a break during crush, sit down together with a beer and a hot meal and have a good time. So, this is how to feed a harvest crew…..after all the crew is making the wine, and the happier and healthier we all are, the better the wine will be!
- Posted in Harvest, Winery
- 2 Comments
October 17, 2006 at 7:46 am, Stan Hieronymus said:
What was the beer?
October 17, 2006 at 9:49 am, annette said:
Well, for this particular feast we consumed Gordon Biersch but have been known to also have Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Rogue River , and Buffalo Bill’s around as well. One of our favorites is quite local, however: English Ales Brewery here in Marina. All of their beers are great, and I especially enjoy their “Dragonslayer”.