I was recently asked what a typical day for me looks like at
the vineyard. There are days that I hardly get out of the office, or when I
have to go to Santiago or somewhere else. So this post is about a week in the life of the winemaker of
Lagar de Bezana.
Monday
After a week off, to celebrate Chile’s independence,
personnel returned on Monday. In the morning, I walked through the vineyard
with Miguel, the vineyard manager, to see what had been happening in our
absence. Of all the varieties, only Petit Verdot was actively budding.
Especially Cabernet was giving few signs of activity yet. The weeds have been
growing a little, and some are difficult to control, so this week we’ll control
them by hand or with herbicides, depending on which part of the vineyard
they’re in.
I then went quickly to Santiago, as I had a borrowed filter
that had to be returned to it’s rightful owner. Taking advantage of the trip, I
took 30 cases of wine and several documents to our head office in Santiago,
where I also met Felipe Kaufmann, an extremely friendly Wine Advisor from
Brazil who loved our wines. He promised to come and visit the cellar during
summer.
On my way back from Santiago I bought a few rose bushes for
the vineyard at Ludwig Sehrt, a german-chilean nursery. People always ask why
we have roses growing in the vineyard. They’re only there because they look
beautiful, but some people think they can alert early for an attack of powdery
mildew. The variety I bought, Puzsta, is extremely susceptible to mildew, so I
had them planted near the office, to see if they really get powdery mildew
earlier than the vines and how much time we have between an attack in the roses
and in the vineyard.
I was back at the office only at 4:30h. Santiago is
extremely full of traffic and it takes ages to get from one part of the city to
the other. I first went to see how the labeling of was going, as tomorrow we
have to export a few pallets of wine to Korea. I then had a look at the lab
results from the week before, to see if
malolactic fermentations of the 2012 vintage are finishing and answered
a few more mails.
After work I drove to Rancagua to an appointment with a
physiotherapist (my shoulder has been hurting a lot) and then a while to the
gym, before returning home at 11:00 h for a quick meal and then to bed.
Tuesday
We were busy all morning with the export to Korea. The
forklift was still out of order, so I had to ask a neighbor to borrow his for a
while. We assembled the cases of wine on the pallets and put them on the truck, which took
almost all morning! The documents take a while too, as these have to be done
very precisely.
Meanwhile, the girls that were busy tying down the shoots
advised me that they had finished, which officially ended this year’s pruning.
I had expected them to be busy all week, but the little machines we bought last
year have made the job a lot easier and quicker.
After a lot of administrative work after lunch, my brain
felt a little burned, so before the day was over I went to see the results of
the cover crops we’ve sown between the rows in a corner of the vineyard. The
goal of a cover crop is to add or recycle nutrients and organic material to the
soil, avoid erosion (not our case) or decrease vigor of the vineyards. That is
why we did the experiment in a vigorous part of the vineyard, in case the vines
would be really affected. Anyhow, they haven’t come up very well, probably
because we were a little late with sowing and the seed bed wasn’t well
prepared. Next year we’ll definitely continue the experiment.
After work I went to the physiotherapist again and then to
the swimming pool for an hour. Today has been the first really warm day of the
year, so the swimming pool was a welcome refreshment. I was a little tired
after that so I got some Chinese food for dinner on my way back from Rancagua,
before going to bed.
Wednesday
Since the forklift was still not working and a tractor had
broken down on Monday, I went with Miguel to Rancagua, to see if we could find
the spare parts we needed. I also went to the bank, to get a new checkbook and
to the supermarket, to buy silk paper to wrap a few bottles that had their back
labels damaged while being transported in their cases. This took all morning,
as the spare parts were impossible to find.
On the way back we stopped in the village to order sand and gravel,
to repair the decanter pools. Before the water is used for irrigation, it has
to pass through two pools, to let the sand and other particles drop to the
bottom. This is to avoid the drippers getting obstructed. In the past, people
had destroyed this system, as they didn’t probably understand it. Since a lot
of drippers get obstructed every year, we had decided to restore this system,
which is more work than we expected!
After a late lunch, I answered my e-mails and went to the
vineyard to try the new hoes I brought with me from Holland. One of our workers
had been working all day to put stems back on these tools, as I was able to
bring only the metal parts with me on the airplane one month ago. You must be
asking yourself: why does this guys bring hoes with him from Holland? The
reason is simple: there are no decent hoes to be found in Chile, especially no
hoes that don’t break your back! Anyway, they seem to be working fine, so
tomorrow we’ll put the to good use.
After work, to the physiotherapist again, and on my way back
I bought some artichokes for dinner. They’re in full season now, and sold along
the motorway between Codegua and Rancagua. Delicious!
Thursday
The grafter called early this morning to say he wasn’t
coming until Saturday, as it was raining. It wasn’t raining here, just a little
foggy, but he still wasn’t coming… I was busy with mails and other office work
when Claudio Cereghino dropped by. Claudio is a good frend who works for
Nadalié, a cooperage I have bought my 600 litre barrels at. We tasted through
several tanks and barrels, and the wines are looking a bit disjointed at the
moment. Air temperatures are rising and malolactic fermentations are resuming
after a cold winter. This makes the wines become cloudier again and taste a
little strange. Nothing to be worried about, but the wines that are finished
have to be analysed and racked clean from barrel to barrel. Sulfites are added
to protect against oxidations during summer.
With Miguel, we then went to Rancagua again, for the now
famous but inexistent spare parts and to rent a machine to break the cement on
the decanter pools.
On our way back, we had lunch at the famous “Mini”
restaurant, formerly “Mini Sheraton”! Excellent food, and not expensive at all.
No wonder why I see so many cars parked there every day.
In the afternoon we worked on the salaries that will be paid
next week. Many people get paid additionally for what they produce every month,
which is a lot of work to calculate.
After work I went to the gym and after dinner had a long
read before going to bed.
Friday
The girl that works at the lab called early to be picked up
from the bus station. Since the dogs seemed very hungry, I fed them, although
the guard normally does this. I then heard that the guard had given them food
already, so they got fed twice. Lucky them! They layed basking in the sun for
the rest of the morning, digesting all this food.
After discussing todays lab work, people from the office in
Santiago showed up early, to install a new water pump. Since we’re part of a
radio station that has a very capable electrician, I asked him to install a new
pump, as the old one is showing signs of wanting to give up the gost. I knew
the installation was not very good, but apparently it was so bad we ran the risk
of getting electrocuted any moment! They ended up being busy all day.
Having a look at the pools, I found the guy breaking the
cement working without ear plugs. It is difficult to make people understand
it’s in their own best interest to protect themselves, and can be very
tiresome.
We then discussed with Miguel the possibility of releasing
chicken in the vineyard to control weeds. The warm weather has really favored
their growth, but we’re trying to use as little herbicide as possible. One of
our workers has recently acquired 100 chicken, and chicken love anything green.
This would mean having to close off part of the vineyard with nets and building
a mobile hen house, to house them at night. I inquired after the price of nets,
and Miguel will work on project Mobile Hen House!
I also coordinated with the grafter to come during the
weekend. The vineyard where our Grenache and Mouvèdre is planted still has a
few rows of petit Verdot. We want these plants grafted with Grenache, as the
Petit Verdot wasn’t doing to well here. It also eases work in the vineyard, as
Petit Verdot has very different needs compared to Grenache, when it comes to
pruning, spraying, irrigation etc.
The people have been lowering the foliage wires in the
vineyard. As the shoots grow, we keep them upright with these wires, but before
they have grown enough, we don’t want them to get tangled up in the wires. That
is why they are moved close to the ground after pruning.
After lunch, at around 3:00 h I went to Santiago, to take
samples of wine to the lab, to confirm that malolactic fermentation is really
finished on some wines. I took some cases of wine to the office and picked up
my mail, before going to a wine fair at the Plaza San Francisco Hotel, where I
was pouring wine all afternoon and night together with other members of MOVI,
the “Movimiento de Viñateros Independientes,” an organization of small wineries
we belong to. Since I hadn’t had dinner, the people of the hotel were kind
enough to serve some snacks and sandwiches. There were lots of people, and
apart from the customers, I had a few chats with other members and exchanged
some bottles of wine with Mauro von Siebenthal, of the Von Siebenthal winery in
Aconcagua. His wines are excellent, so make sure to look out for them, as well
as Lagar’s when shopping.
That night I stayed at a hotel in Santiago, as the fair was
only over by 11:30 h and after working fifteen and a half hours, I didn’t feel
like driving back to Codegua.
I’ll leave out the details of the weekend, as I gathered
with a few friends, and probably had a bit too much to eat and drink! Sunday
evening I drove back to Codegua, for another week of work.
