Superstitions of Vintners

SUPERSTITIONS OF VINTNERS

Superstition rituals are powerful routines that give us solace in stressful times and allow us to have the positive thought and faith that otherwise in a stressful situation is hard to come by. Since time immemorial, people have had to deal with the randomness of nature and have had the fear of the unknown. since the wine Industry is so held captive and ransom to the tantrums of the weather and its effects, its but Natural that the vintners, want to connect and repeat the psychologically comfortable circumstances manifested as rituals to remain positive. Some of the superstitions that have been practiced and acknowledged by the vintners are as follows: -

Hair:

The superstition in this winery in Oregon is that there is no shaving once the first fruit is picked until the last cluster runs through the sorting line. The pickers are allowed to shave their neck, because that’s just gross. The first shave is typically something weird or different. This works out good since it is usually around Halloween and one can get away with looking like an idiot. It is believed that failure to follow these rules would result in poor fermentations, and thus most people follow this ritual. Once harvest starts lot of winemakers in the state of Washington don't shave again until their last grapes are in (especially when harvest is off to a great start). One of the winemakers grew so tired of the routine to grow and cut the Hair that he instead came up with the idea of dyeing his hair purple or red just before harvest.  However, Anne Vawter of the Red Mare wines always chops her hair right before harvest. She proudly says-Out with the old and in with the new.

Clothing:

Rachel Stinson Vrooman says that her biggest harvest superstition is a little grungy in that the harvest sweatshirt/vest must not be washed from the beginning of harvest until the last press run. Other than that, water hoses must be left perfectly coiled at the end of the day, lugs stacked in stacks of 20, and no checking of grape ripeness the day after a rain. Neeta Mittal of LXV Wine, Paso Robles wears her Cal Berkeley Sweatshirt on the first pick of every harvest. Paul Steinauer of Flora Springs, St. Helena wears shorts from the first day of harvest until the last tank of red is pressed out. Even though the last pressing might continue till last November and it gets cold.

 Toasting:

MJ Tsay at Realm Cellars, St. Helena says that since she is a female winemaker, she cannot participate in the harvest ritual of shaving, and thus she has taken the elegant route of toasting the first grapes received, with a bottle of Champagne. She always gathers her entire team (sales/marketing included) at the ungodly hour of 5 or 6 a.m. to gather around their first bin of grapes and a taste of Champagn- remembering to always give a pour for Bacchus over the grapes.

Paul Steinauer of Flora Springs, St. Helena follows the ritual to saber a bottle of bubbly and christen the grapes to celebrate the vintage and then the team toasts to a great harvest season. 

Odd Stuff:

Matt Crafton in Chateau Montelena, Napa Valley, ever since his first harvest, has always carried a plain-white envelope with the word ‘push’ written on it to keep him motivated during the crazy, stressful days of harvest.

Garrit Stoltz of Stoltz Winery, Hood River, Oregon on the other hand has a deep distrust of pumping wine. They instead fork the grapes by hand into destemmer, and then feed down into what was the cadaver laboratory (their winery facility was once a funeral home) for fermenting and pressing. Once quiet it is moved with gravity and gas displacement into the mortuary’s old cold chamber. The wine is bottled by hand back in the lab without ever seeing the inside of a pump.

Stuart Spoto of Spoto Wines, Oakville has a simple ritual wherein he sits down with his cup of coffee, pets the winery dog and let him lick his face for luck. This is how he starts his days during crush and to top it all the winery dog’s name is Napa.

Brooke Langelius of St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery in Napa dreads the Full moons because as per him they bring nothing bad luck for bottling. The equipment on their bottling line breaks down with no explanation what seems like every single time they bottle on a full moon.

Laura Barrett of Casey Flat Ranch in Capay Valley follows just one superstition – she never, never washes her car during harvest. With multiple trips, up and down Casey Flat Ranch the dust gets into every nook and cranny of her car, inside and out but she believes that It's against all winemaker rules to wash until the last grapes are in. If you hit the carwash, it will rain.