When I was a teenager I had an issue with the late afternoon classes. They interrupted Surfing.
My favorite spot to go was Seascape beach, about 10 miles south of Santa Cruz. It’s not a hot shot surfing spot, but I enjoyed the rugged hike in, the beach was mostly empty, the waves were good, and a school of dolphins patrolled regularly. There really isn’t anything more peaceful than sitting on a surf board in the cool Pacific, watching the sun set, and having dolphins swim all around you.
15 years ago or so a resort went in at Seascape. It’s not as rugged now or isolated, but I still like coming here. It’s only about 15 minutes away from the Woodruff Family Vineyard, so Stefania and I decided to stay here over night while we pick Pinot Noir.
Today we picked for Bradley Brown and Big Basin Vineyards and Pax Mahle for his new project. Tomorrow we will pick for ourselves. The day wasn’t too long, started at 7 and finished at 2:30. We’ll actually have a little break to enjoy the beach tonight.
I worked hard picking, sorting and hiking the hill today so just took a few pictures:
The crew getting started on Pax Mahle’s grapes.
Working the center section of the vineyard for Bradley Brown. Bradley spent the morning with us and it was good to be able to talk with him some.
Seascape when we got back 🙂
From yesterday in the Arastadero Vineyard. This is a Syrah vineyard we manage for Big Basin Vineyards. It is so steep that only Stef and I, plus Jerry, his wife, brother and sister, harvested. I didn’t trust anyone else in the vineyard.
Bradley was super happy with the fruit. We took this over this year, and he said it’s the best fruit he has gotten from this vineyard. We also farmed it 100% organic for him.
Normally you would use a forklift and tractor to move bins. In this vineyard it is so steep the picking bins have to be carried out by hand and dumped by hand into the waiting truck.
Back to today’s pictures. The crew snacking after we had finished for the day. There’s lots of fun in translation. I tell Stef what I want done. She uses a combination of English and Spanish to make sure Jerry understands, and he then tells the crew in Spanish.
Jerry is great though. He’s the kind of person you just tell him what solution you want, and he figures out a way to make it happen.
More of the crew picking away. I probably picked 15-16 bins today, Stef picked about 30. We got Bradley about 60% of what he hoped for, but he said the fruit looked and tasted excellent. He was very happy with what he got, he just wished there was more.
