Portland, OR

If you live in Portland, chances are that you know someone who makes wine, or at least makes their living off of wine. Portland lies in the middle of two rather important wine regions, the Willamette Valley and the Columbia Valley. The Willamette Valley is known for top-drawer pinot noirs and the Columbia, being a bit hotter, produces some truly brilliant syrahs and cabernets, along with pinots. Please note I am generalizing for the purposes of not making this post a two-thousand word essay on Oregon and Washington wine. Both regions produce many other grapes, in addition to there being other regions within both Oregon and Washington that I am not intending to omit for any reason other than brevity.

I spent my Sunday sorting grapes at a winery out in Yamhill County. In the picture to the left, I would have been standing on the left side of the table from the point of view of the camera, but obviously, I am missing as I am taking the picture. The others in the picture include (from left) Bob, Chris, Mike and Andrew. Andrew, a Brit, is one of the interns working this harvest, or crush, as they call it in the wine-making biz, with the rest of the sorting crew being volunteers, working for the sheer pleasure of being involved in the process. Also, as the winemaker is our friend, it is also a pleasure to help out a friend. As the winery is a smallish one (producing approximatiely five to six thousand cases of wine a year, depending on the year and the amount of grapes coming in), the extra hands are usually only needed the days that the grapes come in.

This is the time of year that many of my friends are either paid employees of a winery or a particular winemaker working at a “studio” or winemaking facility, or day-volunteers working for wine and food. It really is a fun process, although getting up early in the morning on a Sunday may not sound like a whole lot of fun. And of course, it is actual work, but work in a very good, honest way. You know, getting back to our agrarian roots, becoming more acquainted with the land and its bounty, and any other cliche about farming you can think of.

We had a full day yesterday, processing about nine tons of grapes. The morning started with chardonnay grapes, and then we moved onto the pinot noir grapes that took up the rest of the day. Sorting grapes means picking out underripe and damaged grapes, leaves, stems, sticks, and stones. White wines are generally easier when it comes to the grapes, as the white grapes tend to be less finicky and fragile, whereas pinot noir grapes are very fragile due to their think skins, and they are more susceptible to water damage. And as it is the beginning of the rainy season, it is crucial to pick the grapes before too much water causes them to burst. Some years, rot plays more of a role in damaging grapes, but the “veterans” at the sorting table were happy to see so little rot, if any at all. Rain is a major factor in rot, but even with the rains we had in the last two weeks, a rainy day was usually followed by a dry day or two, thus allowing the grapes to dry out and avoid rotting on the vines.

We did have a longer-than-intended lunch break, as the last batch of grapes, about four or five of the nine tons, were late in arriving. This is what happens when the grapes are late. I love this picture. It’s Leonardo (another intern, from Argentina), Andrew, and Bob, catching a few z’s in the afternoon sun.

If you are interested in volunteering at a winery, you should contact a winery and offer your services. Obviously, this year is taken care of, and I would recommend contacting a winery during the summer, maybe in August. You can also check out craigslist. Not all wineries need the extra hands, as some of the larger wineries already employ pretty big staffs, but you never know unless you ask. It is a interesting process that can illuminate the winemaking process that perhaps many of us boozers take for granted.

Portland, Willamette Valley, Columbia Valley, wine, winemaking, Oregon, Washington, harvest, crush, sorting grapes, pinot noir, pinot, pinots, syrah, cabernet, white wine, red wine, chardonnay, intern, volunteer, Argentina, winery