A Sticky Saturday Diversion

Since I've been entertaining the idea of getting involved in the art of cultivating grape vines and turning them into agreeable wine I thought it might be a good idea to take advantage of an open offer from Stableridge Winery. For $75 bucks one can experience a typical work day when a harvest comes in and hopefully learn what is actually involved in the process. Suffice to say it is indeed a sticky and loud business. And the question comes to mind at some hot and sweaty point in the middle of the afternoon as to who is taking advantage of what. Because I actually grabbed a plastic rake, ascended a ladder and helped claw over 4 tons of pinot grigio grapes, just snipped from vines that very morning by twenty hearty pickers, out of five large crates perched atop a just-acquired forklift. And I don't know what these folks would have done without that forklift and this rake-clawer. Oh, I'm sure that they would have succeeded in getting that harvest of grapes knocked down into the de-stemming machine eventually but I sure made it a quicker and less messy endeavor for somebody.

So am I a chump for paying $75 for the opportunity to help these folks? Well, maybe, but I did get a few free samples of their wine (and it is quite good) but anybody that had strolled into their Tasting Room would have received the same. And I did get a fresh turkey and cheese sandwich made with white bread (the first white bread sandwich this mouth has entertained in years) and good ol Miracle Whip. A handful of chips. Water.

In the middle of the afternoon, after I had proven my worth I guess, the owner did go inside and fetch a copy of a seminar document titled "Winegrowing In Oklahoma" dated October 2005 which he gave to me. Ah - now we're getting somewhere, because it would have cost money and time to attend this seminar at one of the nearby colleges. Maybe even more than $75. And I have to admit that it was eye-opening to watch the trucks back in with their glistening load. We raked those bunches of grapes down into the mouth of that raging machine that somehow magically separated stem from grape, depositing one into a refuge pile, the grapes being sucked into a clear hose that brought their sweet nectar from outside to inside and fed into a Pressing Machine, the actual device that now precludes us from removing our footwear and stomping away.

Interesting to note that no pressing at all is needed during the "first run" where 70% of the wine comes from. And this "first run" is the best wine as well. Then it's all fed into different large silver metal vats for continuous watching and adjusting (when the levels of sugar and acidity meet, that's when you've met success, or something like that). I need to learn a hell of a lot more about that part of the process. We're talking chemistry here, not my best subject, but then again, in school we were dealing with bunsen burners and boring chemicals, not wine.

So maybe it was worth the $75 if only to burst any romantic and harebrained ideas regarding the opening of a vineyard and winery. And you what, it was fun, and they were nice people. And there's nothing wrong with helping people and getting your hands sticky from time to time (although I'm still curious as to the source of one incredibly sore left calf --- must have been reaching for that last stubborn grape in the corner of the crate).

A couple of final facts: the old European variety known as viniferia grows well here in Oklahoma contradicting what I had read in a book. That is good news. Also, the owner said what the Oklahoma Wine & Grape Industry really needs is nurseries. Hmmm... something to think about.

So, after all that dirty hot work I was really ready for an ice cold... beer.