208 hrs in 15 days

Wow, I was looking at my last post on the 31st of August and that seems like it was months ago. Things have been running pretty much flat out since my arrival, and we arent out of the woods yet, I have been given the morning off to recuperate some lost sleep and I wanted to write something to keep everyone in the loop.
I can remeber the last thing that I wanted to write before life became a routine of grapes, wine, day, and night. Of all of our everyday things that we take for granted, one of them has to be getting gas for our cars. In fact, depending on what state you are in you may or may not be allowed to do it yourself. Here in Portugal the closest gas station is twenty minutes away in Regua. My days start at 8 in the morning and I needed a few things from the grocery store. Much to my displeasure the store was closed (no yogurt!), so I decided to get some petrol and head back to the Quinta. Well, I pulled in to a busy station and got out for some diesel. And who would pull in right behind me? It was Nuno the other harvest hand I had been working with for a few days now, along with his rediculously loud techno. I asked him where you pay, thinking you had to pay first then pump. Just like it is anywhere in the US. I handed the man my money and told him which pump. Nuno had come in with me, and the man behind the counter asked me something in Portugese which was too fast for me to understand. I looked at Nuno who translated. Come to find out you pump first, then pay, then get your reciept. So I pump and come back in for my reciept. Nuno is still inside and askes me if I want a coffee real quick. Sure why not? So he makes me an espresso at this really nice self serve espresso bar. We put an entire packet of sugar in it and slam it down. Nuno pays and I leave, telling him I will see him at work. I cross the bridge out of town and make the right turn onto the road out to the Quinta. The road follows the river twisting and turning with no shoulders. I am behind a black Mercedes and we are both following a large truck. I look in my rearview mirror and see that Nuno has caught up with me. Then I look ahead a little closer and realize that we are both following Hugo, the assistant winemaker. I realize that this is going to be a race to the Quinta. Now, for your understanding know that I am driving the owner´s wife´s minivan. It is a six speed and corners ok, but its not the small VW that Nuno is driving or the Mercedes that Hugo has. But with the espresso and the sugar running up the RPMs it was hard not to have some fun. Nuno passed me pretty easily on a small straight away and we all overtook the truck on the next one. I was able to close the gap on some of the straightaways but they usually pulled away again in the corners. Nuno was smiling when I walked into the winery, but he had to give my some credit in that I did pretty good for driving a minivan. For a moment I thought of Jim´s Impreza and only thought about what could have been. Jim you would love it here, the roads and the terrain are perfect for your car and the way you drive. Some day.

Impromptu Tour of the Duaro

Today kicked off at 8 and we had a lot to do despite the fact that no fruit will be coming in for a week or so. The first of the lagars was almost ready to empty and the other needed to be cooled a bit. Fermentation and maceration are only given four days start to stop. The juice is a really dark black color and the lagars are almost overflowing with the cap pushed up. While waiting for the sugar to get down to the right level, which was only a matter of hours, Jorge decided to drive out to the vineyards to take some samples. As we pulled out of the winery he asked me if I had my camera, at which point my stomach dropped because I had left it in my backpack. Let me tell you if there was ever a day to not forget my camera today was that day. The drive out took the better part of an hour past valley after valley of terraced vineyards. The hills look barren from the bottom because they are so steep you cant see the terraces from that angle. From the top they look like a topographical map with the lines getting farther apart towards the top instead of getting closer. There will often only be 1 to 4 rows of grapes per terrace because the hill is so thick. What it must take to farm these locations I have no idea. Because of the heat, lack of moisture, and warm breezes no spraying is needed, but all of the work still has to be done by hand. One of the most impressive things was the amount of acreage under cultivation and all of it on some of the most impossively steep slopes. Everywhere are drystacked stone walls and tiled roof houses built the same way. Even the wire posts down the rows are split panels of schist. Truly incredible to think of the amount of labor that must be poured into this area. And every once and awhile we would turn a corner or I would happen to look up hill and there would be these little mountain communities clinging to whatever someone decided was far enough from vertical to build on. I would suddenly find us winding through cobbled streets with two story walls on either side as we labored in low gear through another village. Or pop out on a ridge top with views of the Duaro and beyond right in front of me. Other times Jorge would be passing someone next to a cliff around a blind corner. This area reminds me something of Cuzco, Peru. And if anyone has seen the terraced gardens of Macchu Picchu then they will get some sense of how steep things are. But even the old houses, the rock work, the tiled roofs, it reminds me of colonial South America at times. By the time we arrived back at the winery it was 2 in the afternoon, I was starving and we still had a lagar to move, press, blend, and clean. Needless to say it was another 11 hour day and tomorrow should shape up the same way.

Winery Moment: This morning as we were chilling the brandy "Killing me Softly" came on the small radio we have in the corner. It is mostly pop music but most of it is pretty good actually. It was just me and Nuno in the place at the time and suddenly I hear him singing along. Now, Nuno speaks a few words of English and Spanish so we get along fine, but I would never expect him to know an American pop song. Sure enough he knew every moment. I was struck by the absurdity of it for a second and then decided to make it a duet. We both got a good laugh out of it.

Portugal 2009

well, for those of you who didnt know I am in Portugal working the harvest for a port winery called Quinta do Tedo. I arrived yesterday after many sleepless flights and was surprised to find out that the harvest has already started! It seems the grapes ripened early this year and the crew had already started processing fruit. I was shown my room which is in a house just up the hill from the winery and told to be at work at 9 am the next morning. I awoke in the dark to Jorge, our winemaker, banging on the door downstairs telling me that it was time for lunch! It seems I had slept through my alarm and since the windows here are shuttered I had slept 15 hours. No one seemed to care though and I was grateful because I was very tired. Today however, went till 10 pm and I can only imagine how tired I would be had I been at work at 9. I cant wait to post pictures of the winery and the views becuase this place is gorgeous. It is nestled at the meeting of the Duaro river and the Tedo river. Everything here is extremely steep and the vinyards are terraced on the steepest slopes I have ever seen farmed. Today was all Tempranillo, but I am told that the Duaro is a very diverse valley with over 60 different genetic varieties. So far everything is in lagars, and they still do maceration by foot, eight men at a time for four hour shifts, very traditional. Tomorrow will be a little bit more relaxed I just hope I can wake up on time.

Back in the U.S.

I left Christchurch at seven am on Wednesday morning for a three hour flight to Sydney (which only took an hour and a half) and then after a five hour layover I departed Sydney on a thirteen hour flight across the Pacific to back to San Fransisco. Remarkably, I arrived at eleven am on the same morning that I left Christchurch(weird), I wish the trip only felt like four hours, but I have been through worse (Morocco to Switzerland by train was a thirty two hour slightly conscious nightmare).
However, yet another harvest is over, we finished having processed just over 270 tons of grapes over a six week period. My time spent in New Zealand has proved to be invaluable for me. Working at Rockburn was very informative and I took advantage of every opportunity and have made contacts and learned skills that will no doubt serve me in the future. I also had the chance to make wines that I haven't made before and although Malcolm was patient with my never ending questions I am sure that he will miss me when he has to dig out the last fermentors without me.
It is good to be back into some California sunshine. When I left New Zealand it was about thirty four degrees and I almost didn't make to Christchurch because of snow in the passes. The snow capped peaks all around Cromwell did make for some dramatic scenery and what I could see of Lindis pass was beautiful. However, the ninety seven degree weather here in Monterey Bay over the weekend was just as wonderful. So far I have managed to dodge the worst parts of two winters!
Right now the summer seems to stretch out in front of me for a long time, but I know that the Oregon Crush will be here before I know it. For now there is plenty of time to ride my bike, cook, watch my nephew's baseball games, and read. I do look forward to some good backpacking in the Sierra and more on my way back up to Oregon, but that will still be a month away or more. Thank you to everyone who followed along on my travels and if you think it is worth the effort check in every once an awhile. Come the new year there will be more travels and stories, possibly from a winery in Australia...

Vintage 2009 Central Otago

Since leaving Queenstown more than a month has passed and yes I am still in New Zealand. A big apology to anyone who kept checking back in over the past weeks to see if I had managed to find the motivation to write a new post. Well, finally I have. I am currently in the small Otago town of Cromwell. It is, however, the unofficial epicenter of New Zealand Pinot Noir and home to many of the top wineries in the country. I have been spending the largest portion of my days working at Rockburn Winery for over four weeks now and countless hours of processing.
When I tell people I work at a winery, most ask what that means. Do I tramp grapes with my bare feet? Not unless I am trying to force an extra 800lbs of grapes into a press with a capacity of two tons and I always wear my rubber boots. In fact, I usually reply that most winery work is cleaning. Not an entirely inaccurate statement, but hard to quantify. The last weeks here have certainly included lots of cleaning: presses, destemmers, elevators, fermentors, tanks, hoses, pumps, bins, and drains. Most of the heavy work is done with a forklift and that sure helps. But all of the above mentioned equipment was first used to process several different types and clones of grapes which are, as I write this, being transformed from simple sugary grape juice into fantastic wines. Winemaking is a fairly simple process, largely the same the world over, however, at the same time, it is never simple.
Currently, we are just about done, meaning we only have about 40 tons to go. We have already processed about 23o tons and the end is in sight. However, the fun doesnt stop there, after that there are punchdowns, racking, barreling, pressing, and yes, lots more cleaning. In fact 270 tns is a relatively small number and as the area goes we are a midsized winery. Compared to Oregon we are huge, compared to California we're tiny. I won't bore you with all the many processes of making wine, just know that during harvest we work 8 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week. And other wineries work more. It is fun work,( sugar covered, cracked hands, caustic burned, wet feet sort of work). But come on, you're making wine, whats not to like about it? Anyway, I still have a few more weeks in this fantastic country working at a great winery, and then I will be home to tell everyone about it. And if your lucky I will still have a bottle or two of Central Otago Pinot Noir to open.

Franz Josef Glacier

Yesterday it felt like I have been travelling for nearly a month just to see some snow capped mountains. In fact, I have. And yesterday I got what I have come for. Having left Lake Mahinapua and headed for Franz Josef the Southern Alps finally came into view. They aren't the highest range in the world with the vast majority under 12000 feet, but they are saw toothed like Alaskan Peaks and the vertical rise is impressive, just like the Swiss alps.

Franz Josef is a small town at the base of the glacier by that name and a short drive from the Fox glacier. Most of the activities in town revolve around these two glaciers and some of the nearby mirror lakes. I opted not to do any of the glacier hikes having already been on a glacier a few times and Jason was kind enough to take me ice climbing last summer in Alaska. But there was some great day hiking to be done. I took a shuttle out of town and was dropped off at the start of a trail called Alex's Knob. It is a ridge line that tops out at about 3500 feet with great views of the glacier and the surrounding Alps. The climb up took about two and half hours, not bad considering I gained about 2000 feet. The top of the ridge was above the clouds which would come and go below and the views were great. Facing east you could see the glacier and the mountains, facing west you could see the Tasman sea breaking on the beach not far away. I ate lunch on top and had a quick cup of tea then headed back to the bottom. From there I headed off to see how close I could get to the terminal face of the glacier. I got within about a quarter mile when the river turned sharply around a granite spire and cut me off. Oh well, close enough I guess.

The forests that my morning trail climbed through had this prehistoric quality to it. It was full of fern trees, climbing vines, and podocarps. I expected to see some dinosaur lift its head above the vegetation any minute wondering whether or not I was food. It was really amazing, the rock was striated in numerous small layers and moss was thick everywhere. It was unlike the beech forests around Nelson Lakes, and different from the jungle like forests of the north island. The conifer plantations are strangely absent in this area, and the jungle is aptly described as a rain forest. I saw two New Zealand Kea's in flight over me at one point, a native alpine parrot known to eat the weather stripping around car windows. I was also pestered by a bird of some sorts who kept dropping bark on me when I stopped for a quick snack under "his" tree.

Tomorrow it is on to Wanaka with more good scenery and a few stops at mirror lakes to take those postcard photos that will make you all wish you had come with me. Cheers.

Nelson Lakes National Park

Post Tongariro I continued to travel south through to Wellington, across the straight and on to Nelson. I really liked Nelson it suits me very well. By south island standards it is a city, but it still retains that small town feel to it. The largest building in the area is still the church on the hill. It also has a great arts scene with numerous potters. Unfortunately, many of these artists have their studios outside of town, and I wasn't able to get to many of them. The few i saw in town were fairly uninteresting. In fact, it made me feel better about the stuff that I make.

For the most part Nelson was just a staging point for me. Not far from the city were two awesome national parks. The most famous being, of course, the Abel Tasman National Park. However, I really wanted to beat the crowds and get away from the mob into the back country. Second, Abel Tasman is known mainly for its coastal scenery and I really wanted to get back up into the Alpine. So I grabbed six days of food and had the bus drop me off at the DOC office on the shores of Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park. I was set to do the Travers-Sabine Circuit. This track follows the Travers river up the valley from Lake Rotoiti and crosses Travers Saddle over the range and down to the Sabine river valley. From there I climbed back into the Alpine and headed along a ridge to Lake Angeles. From there down Mt. Roberts Ridge back to Lake Rotoiti. Sounds easy right? In fact, it took me all six days, and the climbs up Travers Saddle and Mt. Cedric were actually pretty tough. And don't mistake "river valley" for wide open plane. They were more like ravines.

For the most part the track was through beech forests crossed by numerous small streams. The surrounding forests were really beautiful and a pleasant change from the conifer forests of the North West. The lakes were also equally stunning, although they did mean more sand flies. A word about Sand flies: they are much better than mosquitoes. DEET actually works in keeping them away. They tend not to hang out around your ears, and go mainly for the arms and legs. However, they are the size of a small fly and if you have any body hair at all it pretty much keeps them away. Some people hate them some people don't. Personally I would take them over mosquitoes any day.

The only day that was really eventful was my climb up Mt Cedric and along the ridge from Sabine hut to Lake Angeles Hut. The day started wonderfully. Sunny skies and scattered clouds after the rain the day before. It was a hard climb of steep switchbacks up to the tree line, and once you broke treeline it was pretty much straight up to the top of the ridge. Once I gained the top of the ridge the wind picked up a little and I could see more clouds on their way. At this point though I was at about 5000 feet with another 1000 feet in elevation gain still to go. The rest of the track that day was marked only by snow poles, although there wasn't any snow. The track climbed along the top of the ridge which was broken and jagged with numerous small peaks and scree fields. That's when it got interesting. The clouds came in about twenty minutes after I gained the top of the ridge and the wind picked up steadily. The clouds were full of moisture and the wind blew it steadily like a fine driving rain. I put on my gear and kept walking. At times I could barely see the next pole marking the trail, sometimes I would wait at one pole for the clouds to clear a bit and then spotting the next pole I would move on, still other times I would have to head in the general direction of the next pole and be halfway to it before I could spot it. Really it was great fun.

I found out later when I arrived at the hut that the wind was gusting around 55mph and steady at around 50mph. It sure made my day more interesting. All that aside I arrived at the hut perfectly dry and warm. All my gear worked exactly as it was supposed to and I was never worried that it would fail. In fact, I had more fun on that day than the previous four combined. Even the climb over Travers saddle was relatively tame.

Anyway, the next day I walked down Roberts Ridge and had more alpine fun. There was winds at about 35mph and the clouds were still swirling around a bit, but they weren't moisture bearing so it was more fun. They would fly past every fifteen minutes of so and offer some great views of the St. Arnaud range and the lakes below. The alpine meadows and tarns were numerous and the trail was well worn, so you could walk uninterrupted even in the mists.

Nelson Lakes has definitely been a highlight for me so far, I met some great people, stayed at some wonderful huts, and tramped some awesome spots. Unfortunately, uploading pictures to this site takes an extremely long time, so if you want photos, and I took plenty, check out facebook.