My 2014 Adventure: Travels to Singapore, Australia & New Zealand: First Week at Yealands Estate Winery

Hello, as you know I have stopped my travels and started working at Yealands Estate Winery for the 2014 vintage. On Monday of this week about 15 of the cellar hands had their orientation. The day was a breeze as we learned how things are done at Yealands in the cellar, toured the vineyards, and had an afternoon wine tasting. The location here is absolutely gorgeous! The vines go all the way up to the ocean in some places. Also there is a definite focus on polyculture farming here. For instance, Yealands owns baby doll sheep which graze on the grass beneath the vines. Kunekune pigs are allowed to root around too; their snouts are so short they don't cause damage to the ground or vines. There are also various chicken coops around the vineyard with free range chickens running around. As we drove by they would run in a flock after us. During the wine tasting we were shown around 20 different wines, to get an idea of what Yealands produces. We tried Sauvignon Blanc (of course!), Pinot Gris, Riesling, Chardonnay, Syrah, Tempranillo, and Pinot Noir. They were all so delicious and well made, I'm excited to help make next year's wines here!

The rest of the week we have been doing different things in the cellar to get used to the tasks we will be asked to complete during vintage. I cleaned tanks and transferred wine with my new French friend Aude-Line (pronounced OOH-dah-lean) and got to learn about barrel care with the Pinot Noirs. Tomorrow we will be assigned a shift (day or night), as well as what area we'll be spending most of our time. For instance, some people will be assigned to grape receiving and get to be the first ones to survey this year's crop as the grapes are de-stemmed and sent to the presses or tanks. I'm excited to see what I'll be doing!

There are so many nationalities represented here in our vintage crew: France, Northern Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Greece, Chile, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Austria...it's really amazing to me. This weekend is filled with parties on both Saturday and Sunday. We are all taking advantage of our only free weekend before shift work starts. Then we will run 24 hours per day on two 12 hour shifts. Below I've put some pictures of my first week, enjoy:)