Vineyard Worker to be Named Later

Over the last few years we’ve made an effort to take Sunday off from work. Even during fall harvest time we try and keep one day when we can rest and recover. I’ve always been a football fan and Dad would take us to 49er practices and games well before Joe Montana and Jerry Rice made the Niners a great team.

Stefania has gotten to be an even bigger fan though and she insisted that last year we get the NFL package on Directv. That way we could watch the Saints, Broncos, Bears and Seahawks also. She like to follow the teams of cities we visit often or have been to games at.

Well the news this week had been buzzing about Payton Manning coming to the 49ers. He decided on the Broncos though and Denver quickly announced they would try and trade Tim Tebow. That’s when the staff around here got worried. Stef likes Tebow, and the odds of any NFL team trading anything for him seem pretty low. I bet we could get John Elway to trade him for a vineyard worker to be named later. Millie and Jaye were both worried we might offer one of them to the Broncos for Tebow. After all there is no need to throw anything when working in the vineyards or winery so he has the right skills.

That’s my way of reminding everyone Millie is back working with us and Jaye decided she likes this new job and stayed with us after trying the job out last fall. We’re a crew of six now.

The Best Car Ever

Our little Toyota FJ Cruiser is a regular item in our blog postings. Pictures, especially of the time and temperature are featured in all kinds of posts.

We bought the car in February of 2007. It’s very first road trip was that May. We drove up to Oregon to visit a few Pinot Noir producers we liked. 2007 was our first year making Pinot Noir and we wanted to pick the brains of people who made it the way we liked it.

We’ve used the car to move barrels, one fits in the back perfectly. We also use it to move cases of wine. We can get in about 20 cases from the warehouse, or about 15 packages to go to UPS. It also hauls us to vineyard sites and can get up any road we throw at it no matter how rough.

It passed 91000 miles this month and the title showed up. It’s paid for. No major problems. The front end suspension needs a tune up that will run about $400 and we put new tires on it at 50,000 miles. Other than that it’s been regular maintenance. It still gets just about 19-20 miles to the gallon on gas.

The topper is I went to check Blue Book value on the car after a friend mentioned how much he saw used cars FJ’s selling for. I was blown away. With our miles and condition the retail is $19,200. I paid $23,500 for it new. We’re not planning on selling it anytime soon though. It’s been a great car and a key part of making Stefania Wine go.

Much Needed Time Off (the art of doing nothing)

Paul was off from the day job December 23rd to January 2nd so we declared that Stefania Wine was closed for business that week too.  Even though Jaye put in a couple of days baiting gophers and running a couple of errands, we were shut down.

We stayed in the Bay Area, visited with friends and family and even drove over to Half Moon Bay and Pillar Point to fetch crabs off the dock.

The key challenge for us both was to sit still and vow to ignore the numerous tasks that have accumulated during the year.  Sure the outside of the house needs a fresh coat of paint, and the citrus need pruning as do the roses, but none of those are critical have-to’s that we can’t insert into the calendar for this year.

Instead of chores, we spent a lot of time on the deck reading back issues of National Geographic that stacked up during the last quarter and bird watching.  Each afternoon the robins would invade a neighboring tree, and the cedar waxwings made an appearance along with red headed finch.  Our annual visitor “Frederick” is a yellow warbler and the past few years he’s been back with a mate.  Then later, just as the sun was close to setting, Phoebe came by to bug hunt.

Once the sun went down, the back got pretty chilly so we grabbed a couple of throw blankets and fired up the propane heater.  It was mild enough that we stayed out there pretty late one night, Paul grilled a steak and we ate by candle light. By the time we headed back indoors, it was well past 10 o’clock.

I had one chore that was necessary, putting the Christmas tree away.  After that, it was off to Ranch99 to fetch groceries and pick up Dim Sum for a late breakfast.

The reason I’ve been able to post up several blogs in the past few days with so many photos is that over the course of several days and evenings spent watching football, I finally organized the digital pics from 2011.  I had to buy a new desktop computer last Spring and that’s when my files went out of control.  Some were still on my phone, some on a travel camera, the rest on the laptop, etc.  I corralled them all onto the portable back up drive and organized them.

Paul played chess on his computer, I started two knitting projects, we read books and magazines, bbq’d and opened some great wine, entertained friends and family, drove to the coast for lunch, did a little bit of shopping, did a lot of unwinding.  It was the best vacation in a long time.

As we reflected on 2011, we both realized it was nice to stay home for a change and do nothing.

Accolades and Awards

I’ve done a poor job keeping track of wine competition awards and other accolades.  Everyone loves to see their name in print, right?  Well, most everyone that is.

Paul and I spend a lot of time focusing on producing quality wine that we enjoy so having someone else validate its merits is nice, but we don’t go to great lengths for trophies.

That said, while we were in Colorado and in the midst of a major family crisis, I received an email from Lucinda Gilbert asking if I would please review my bio. for her website on women winemakers.  I still owe her a proper reply and to make any edits to the entries, but after a quick glance through, I’m satisfied with the information she pulled off our website.

(http://www.womenwinemakers.com/)

Then, later in the year, Paul sent me an email he received from Vineyard & Winery Management asking if we would like to participate in their International Women’s Wine Competition.  Well, heck, if I’m going to promote myself on Lucinda’s website, I may as well submit a few and see how we do.

I submitted:  ’09 Chardonnay, ’07 EPR Syrah, ’07 Uvas Cab, ’07 SCM Cab, ’08 SCM Cab, and ’08 Crimson Clover Cab.

And then I forgot about the competition. We were busy with harvest and winemaking and then Thanksgiving with friends and family coming around.  When I finally checked the website to see how we did, I was pleasantly surprised.  Everything but the Chardonnay placed.

1 Silver medal and 4 Bronze

http://www.vwm-online.com/wine_competitions/international_womens/results.asp#472

 

 

2011 continued

The blog image I selected is of the samples of ceviche you can order at Jaguar in Coconut Grove Florida.  It’s a funny little story, but our friend Jorge picked us up from the airport.  He drove us into Coconut Grove, but before dropping us at our hotel, he toured us through the neighborhood real quick and pointed out all of the dining and shopping options.  There’s the usual franchise chain eateries and coffee shops, but he made sure to point us to a handful of independent restaurants and what they feature.  Well, Jaguar was one such location and at one point when Jorge called to check in with us, Paul said “at this point it would be less embarrassing to tell you we’re at Cheesecake Factory than Jaguar”.  The ceviches were fantastic and so were the margaritas.  One thing they do there that I keep forgetting to do at home, is to use clear glass wine bottles to serve water in table-side.  Anyway, that’s the story of the ceviche spoons…part of the Miami trip.

In July we drove to Colorado to meet up with my family.  My brother Mike and his daughter Makana went on a hike up Missouri Mountain, to check off another Fourteener, and didn’t make it back down.  Search and rescue found them after several days and we gathered at his home in Boulder to take care of the necessary arrangements.  In the photo above, I have my arm around Ila, that’s Millies sister that lives in a town nearby to where we stayed.  In all the years I’ve known her I consider her family and was glad for the friendly face during such a shitty time in my life.

A photo of my niece Makana and my brother Mike from a photo they took together in Telluride in 2010.  Each year in June for Fathers Day and Summer Solstice, the would spend the week together and usually hike a 14er, that’s what they call the peaks in the Rockies that are over 14,000 feet.

In October, while we were in New Orleans, Paul said he would like to rent a car and drive up into Mobile, Alabama for lunch and to see what was there.  So we did.  From the French Quarter, we headed to Lake Pontchartrain, drove across it and headed East from there and followed minor roads through less developed areas.  Bay Saint Louis was still in major disrepair since Katrina (2005) and Gulfport Mississippi was clearly struggling to recover still.  The center median along the coastal highway has become a sculpture garden.  Someone carved animals into the tree stumps of trees that were blasted by the hurricane, it was pretty amazing.  The last time I drove to Biloxi was ten years or so ago and to see so much devastation and ruin was heart breaking and even worse was knowing the damage was six years old.

Mobile was smaller than we thought it would be, but we enjoyed oysters and gumbo at Wintzells before heading back.

I keep forgetting about the event in Las Vegas.  Sorry for the blurry pic, it was the best one of the group…this was the annual Wine Amplified event at Mandalay Bay.  The band in 2011 was Train and the event was a huge success.  We got our usual cabana just to the right of the stage and had a great time pouring.  Millie joined us on our “company retreat” and spent the day with us lounging pool side at the cabana at The Green Valley Ranch.

Pretty sure I mentioned these guys earlier in the year, but here they are again. Our new roommates, Fat Cat (far side), and Little Bubby.  I adopted them years ago for a friend and in a bizarre tale of lesbian divorce and custody battle, I ended up with them.  We love having them around and I can’t imagine my life without them ever again.

And with that, I’m wrapping up the highlights and low lights of 2011.  Next up…winemaking related blogs as we kick off pruning on January 7th.

Travel 2011

As I started writing all this down I realized we were fairly busy traveling last year.  That would explain the high volume of travel photos and the lack of vineyard & winery pics.  We didn’t get to work with Gerardo as much last year, he found a day job working for an electrician which meant Paul, Millie, and I did a lot more of the work.

 

We started off the year in Seattle in a condo we rented and shared with six friends.  We watched the New Years Eve fireworks from the balcony and watched the sun rise on the Olympic mountains every morning.  Paul drove us to Woodinville for wine tasting, and each afternoon it seemed we were in Pikes Market picking up groceries for that evenings meal.  On my birthday, we caught the Seahawks/Rams game.  The Seattle trip was a great start to the year and definitely a highlight for me.  I took the opportunity of a cheap flight on Southwest and flew back to Seattle in May to see my friend and her baby boy for lunch.

View from our seats at the Seahawks game.

In February the courtyard at Pat O’Briens was perfectly quiet and welcoming with the outdoor heaters on full blast.  On our trip back in October, this courtyard was a zoo as the Quarter filled up with Auburn fans that came in for the LSU/Auburn game in Baton Rogue.  It was actually good to see so many people in town even if it meant waiting for seats in bars and needing reservations for dinner.  One thing we’ve learned in New Orleans is that you don’t need to wait in line for anything, just walk a couple of blocks and you’ll find comparable food and drink nearby.

In July, I accompanied Paul to Minnesota for his day job.  While he was in meetings, I was walking thru the labyrinths of the skywalk and outdoors on possibly the hottest day of summer there.  We popped into Fogo de Chao after work to escape the heat of the day and had a fair amount of caipirinhas before feasting on the endless arrays of meat that come to your table.  The photo above is from one of the indoor shopping areas, part of an indoor fountain that I spotted on my walk.

Amexicano

Mostly I was on a rant about Illegals vs. legals and what that means to farmers and then I switched gears and started thinking about other related issues that I’ve seen pop up in the media.

Kind of related to that, is the other day Paul and I watched Amexicano, it’s a quick movie but it touches on the very basic elements of what it’s like to hire an illegal day laborer, in this case a Mexican.

The timing for watching this movie is appropriate as we often hire extra laborers this time of year to help harvest the grapes, set up, tear down and clean all the equipment.  Many don’t speak English, all are hard working and all earn a decent wage for their days work.  I can’t imagine the nightmare of trying to track them all thru payroll, but that’s another rant.

New this fall, I’ve hired someone part time to help me in the office, the warehouse, the winery and vineyards as needed.  I doesn’t pay much, but it’s better than the bartending gig she had a chain restaurant nearby.

This all seems kind of random so I’ll try to pull it together next.

In my opinion, those who are most vocal about opposing the hiring of illegal workers have no idea of the following concept:  The pay rate for manual labor is not based on your abilities or skill level.

You might think you are worth $25/hour because you have earned that much before in another job, but picking grapes (or cotton, or strawberries or zucchinis) is minimum wage.  Why are farmers having a hard time hiring white, legal, american citizens?  Arrogance Meets Lazy.  Even at higher than minimum wage, legals are walking off farming jobs faster than the industry can keep up with hiring them.

Great, you went to high school and/or college – I don’t need you to be smart in the field, I need you to do manual labor.  I’m not paying for smart, I’m paying for labor.  The pay is based on the job, not on your skillset or abilities.  Why isn’t anyone else saying this outloud in the media?  Whos egos are we protecting? And why are we shying away from saying as much?

There are jobs where your skill set and education determines your pay, farming isn’t it.

Disclaimer; “white, legal, american citizens” is a catch-all and not meant to suggest those are the only people seeking out labor employment in the fields, I’m just rattling off at the mouth.

End Rant

 

Side Bar:  This is semi-inspired by all the folks who are angry about the illegals taking our jobs, you mean the job you won’t show up to work for more than 2 days in a row. Yeah, your voice counts.

Our Mostly All Girl Crew!

We have a new employee on the Stefania Wine team.  Our friend Jaye is going to be working with us through the shipping season and harvest.  If she likes the work we’re hoping she will stay on and help out through next year as well.  That’s a picture of her in the garage making boxes as part of the shipping process.

When we talked last year about expanding to a location in San Jose and opening a tasting toom we knew we wanted Jaye to run the tasting room operation.   We still have that as part of our future plans, but it looks like it would be 2013 at the soonest.  So in the mean time she’ll be working in the less glamourous garage and home office with us.  That makes 5 employees on payroll.  (I’m unpaid help)

That actually got me pretty mad as I though about it.  I came up with a simple formula:

Solyndra + $575,000,000 in your tax money = ZERO JOBS

Stefania Wine + $0 in tax money = FIVE JOBS

Forward this to your congress critter 🙂  Anyway I’m not supposed to rant too much.  We’re really excited to have Jaye helping out.  She’ll learn a little winemaking this weekend and join Millie, Jerry, Stef, Ron, and I at the winery Monday for her first harvest day.

 

 

The A+ Vendor List

One of the things that Stefania and I do twice per year, usually after bottling and harvest, is rate all of our vendors.  There are usually somewhere between 15 and 25 vendors that we rate.  We give everyone a grade from A to F.  A’s and B’s we keep.  If there was a reason someone got a B we make sure we communicate what we want to be done better next time.

C’s and D’s are on notice.  We tell them that we are unhappy and why.  We also tell them that we’re looking for alternatives and unless they improve we will replace them.  We end up replacing a lot of C and D companies.  They reason they get those grades is usually systemic to the company and not a matter of a few correctable items.  F is for fired.  We do give F’s and we do have vendors we won’t work with anymore.

So what in the world does this have to do with me and a sledgehammer?  Well we finally got the budget to break out the old cement slab in the backyard as the first step in installing a redwood deck.  Stefania and I did all the demolition with heroic help from our friend Eric.  A few people asked: ‘Why don’t you just go down to Home Depot and hire a couple guys?”  Well I thought about that, and I also thought my dad never went out and hired guys when I was a kid, he did it himself with a friend or two.  It occurred to me later that when I was a ‘kid’ my dad was 27 not 45.  No wonder he never needed to hire a couple guys.

The previous homeowner here we lovingly refer to as “F…in Jackwagon” had some surprises in store for us as we demolished.  Re-bar sticking out of the foundation, a buried 1/2 ton cement block (why dispose of properly when you can bury it???),   an unsteady pour of cement that went from 4 to 10 inches thick and my favorite a McDonalds soda cup circa 1967 embedded in the cement.  In all we hauled out by wheelbarrow 6 cubic yards.

It’s where we hauled it to that brings me back to the vendor list.  One vendor we’ve used now since 2009 is Steve’s Hauling.  We use Steve to take pruning out of vineyards and haul away any other debris we have from site construction or maintenance.  We call, give him the address, tell him what we need done, and he does it and sends a reasonable bill.  Every year we’ve given Steve an A+.  We used him again for this job and once again an A+ job.  Steve Stone – Steve’s Hauling 510-719-2994 A+!

Mountain Climbing

Where do I start?

The photo is of Mt. Belford.

In addition to getting ready for this harvest season, Paul and I have been busting our buns to get into good enough shape to climb this mountain.  Why?  Long story, for another day.  The short version is that we’ve been doing the stairs at Communications Hill in San Jose, and let me tell you what, it’s no picnic.  On our first day out to test them, we did one set.  From the very bottom, all the way up, and back down.  Thought I would die from heart or lung failure…so.out.of.shape.  Ugh!

The next time, I did what I should have done the first time out and took a hit off the asthma inhaler before driving over there.  We did two sets, up and down, up and down.  Better.  By lastnight, we successfully did “the hill”, five times.

In between hill climbs, we went over to Calero and hiked our normal trail, the hard way, and never stopped.  The stairs are working!  Usually, on the incline, we stop to catch our breath at least three times, sometimes more.  We didn’t stop! Woohoo! There were a couple of times I thought I should, but then the trail would level off just a bit, long enough to catch my breath and we kept going.  Felt great.

Things I really need to blog about that are vineyard and winery related are coming up soon, this is my test blog to see how the new platform works out. So far so good…of course I’m not to “publish” yet, so we’ll see what happens.  Wish me luck.

-SR