My mission is to share local wine tidbits. Whether it be fun stories from other San Diego wineries, food pairing from local restaurants or something fun we're trying here at the winery. But before we get into all that I want to properly introduce myself so you may get to know a little bit about how I came into the San Diego wine world. So here we go....
My name is Margot and it has now been 10 months since my boyfriend and I made the move to San Diego. Having grown up in Massachusetts, life is very different here in Southern California. Instead of waking up to a morning filled with the smell of pine trees and Dunkin Donuts; I now wake up to palm trees and breakfast burritos.
Finding work here was extremely difficult. After almost of month of searching, I came across this quaint winery, called San Pasqual Winery. It sounded perfect, it was small, had a female winemaker, it was close to my new apartment and....not hiring.
I talked with their Tasting Room Manager and landed myself an interview. I came in one night and met with the owners; A married couple who are also the wine makers. After talking, I asked them, "Let's just say you did hire me, when could I start working?" Their response, “Well how about tomorrow?" I did in fact start working for them the very next day.
I have since been working for them for the last 10 months. I mainly work in their tasting room, pouring wine for guests and assisting in coordinating events. Occasionally I help at the winery, I have so far assisted in racking, bottling, making passion fruit wine and cleaning. Lots and lots of cleaning. I have come to learn that the art of wine making is 75% cleaning and only about 25% actually making wine.
My first day at the winery we were racking our 2007 Cabernet /Syrah blend. I had heard of the process and studied it in my wine class, but now it makes much more sense. What happens is that as wine ages the solids in the wine settle to the bottom of the barrel. In order to have beautiful clear wine, we must remove that sediment. So we pump the clear juice to another tank, clean the barrel and put the wine back in. It sounds like a simple process but it’s actually very time consuming. We spent almost 10 hours that day racking 2 barrels! And we rack each barrel a few times throughout its life in the barrel. Just to give you an idea of what that day was like; I went home tired, my hands covered in wine, my shoes soaked from the power washer, and I'll be honest I felt glorious!
Since that day, I've gotten to assist the winemaker and her team in winery work. I feel like I am learning a lot and enjoying every moment of it. We have since released our 2007 Cabernet Syrah blend, its full bodied rich in dark fruit with a subtle pepper spice on the finish. Come visit our tasting room to try our new release that I have proudly had a hand in making.
I talked with their Tasting Room Manager and landed myself an interview. I came in one night and met with the owners; A married couple who are also the wine makers. After talking, I asked them, "Let's just say you did hire me, when could I start working?" Their response, “Well how about tomorrow?" I did in fact start working for them the very next day.
I have since been working for them for the last 10 months. I mainly work in their tasting room, pouring wine for guests and assisting in coordinating events. Occasionally I help at the winery, I have so far assisted in racking, bottling, making passion fruit wine and cleaning. Lots and lots of cleaning. I have come to learn that the art of wine making is 75% cleaning and only about 25% actually making wine.
My first day at the winery we were racking our 2007 Cabernet /Syrah blend. I had heard of the process and studied it in my wine class, but now it makes much more sense. What happens is that as wine ages the solids in the wine settle to the bottom of the barrel. In order to have beautiful clear wine, we must remove that sediment. So we pump the clear juice to another tank, clean the barrel and put the wine back in. It sounds like a simple process but it’s actually very time consuming. We spent almost 10 hours that day racking 2 barrels! And we rack each barrel a few times throughout its life in the barrel. Just to give you an idea of what that day was like; I went home tired, my hands covered in wine, my shoes soaked from the power washer, and I'll be honest I felt glorious!
Since that day, I've gotten to assist the winemaker and her team in winery work. I feel like I am learning a lot and enjoying every moment of it. We have since released our 2007 Cabernet Syrah blend, its full bodied rich in dark fruit with a subtle pepper spice on the finish. Come visit our tasting room to try our new release that I have proudly had a hand in making.
