The Crush

Didi joins the sorting crew. She is in the light blue shirt. She took my spot. I was NUMB!!

The tasting room!

Love tasting on the job!!

The wine selection. They shelve the wines using old wine barrels. Looks amazing.

Back lot of Napeequa Winery, the HUB of activity.

Back side of the grape crusher.

Me - near the back of the wine tasting room.

The grapes have arrived!The volunteers sorting out bugs, stems, jacks (stems that do look like a jack on the sorting table), leaves and anything green or brown which does not belong. The grapes are then dumped into the large containers. The first one took and hour and a half to fill. That was about 1/3rd the truck.

Hello everyone! Did I ever have a fun week-end. I was invited to come help crush grapes at a winery in Plain, WA.... about 8 miles just outside of Leavenworth. Check them out: http://www.napeequa.com/home.htm
As you most already know, Didi Von Bargen-Miles is the photographer to be had. She knows David and Michael of Napeequa. Originally there was to be 5 of us girls for a "girl time road trip to the winery"... and it was Didi, Erica and me. We got up at the butt crack of dawn, ok darkness still. It was 5:45am, plus after Didi and I shared 2 bottles of wine the night before and crashed at midnight, that was early!! Erica joined us at 6:30 and we hit the road near 7am. Emergency stop at Starbucks in Monroe, then we were back on our way up Hwy 2!

The morning light, the river, the mountain range, the trees, so many amazing shots we didn't stop to capture as Didi said we needed to be there by 9am. I think there needs to be another girls road trip to capture those shots Didi...

Anyway... we arrived a pinch past 9am, more coffee for me from David, one of the owners, changed shoes, then stood by the fire pit until it was time to scrub, prep, and crush. It was GLORIOUS there, so sunny, so warm when the wind wasn't gusting now and then. That wind was icy from the north sliced right through me from time to time. There were a few times I was staring off at the firepit while I was pulling out stems, leaves, and anything that was not a crushed grape. By the way those grapes were sweet and yummy. Tiny too! We got to eat some beforehand.

It was a wonderful and amazing experience for me. It was a fantab adventure. Just amazing.. all over the place people were crushing grapes for their next years crop of wines. I am dead serious. Each week-end in October is CRUSH TIME. I had no idea. Plus I learned why some smaller vineyards are a touch more pricy than the big guns. It takes care, patience, selection oftentimes by hand, and the amount of time put into crushing, fermenting, bottling, to create a great wine. Believe me it is WORTH IT! Cheaper isn't always better, and on the flip side, serioulsy expensive doesn't mean it is better either.

Anyway, here are my cheese cell phone pictures of the day. If youare wondering "Where was Trenten?" he spent the night with his Auntie Rish, and spent most of Saturday watching Salyna's soccer game, and then visiting the Schultz Farms in Sumner at the pumpkin patch. He had a fantastic day and talked non stop about it with me on Sunday.

If you are wondering "Where was Thomas?" he still has to work crazy hours at Sysco. 3:30am til whenever the drivers make it back tot he hub. Insane!