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.
