Workin' at Drylands

We have finally started our long awaited winery job. We are working at Drylands Winery and Vineyard in Blenheim, New Zealand. Blenheim is the wine epicenter of New Zealand and makes some of the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world. Drylands makes primarily Sauvignon Blanc, but also makes some Reisling, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir.

We have been hired to work during Vintage, which is known as The Crush in America. It is the time when all the grapes are harvested and processed. In Blenheim this normally takes 6-8 weeks, but because of the strange weather this year we are only expecting to work 5 weeks.

When we came all we knew was that Kyle was hired as a cellar hand, and Olivia was going to be on the weighbridge crew. We did not know if we would be out in the fields picking grapes, or in an office pushing papers. We have now been on the job 3 days, and are beginning to get an understanding for what we will be doing.

When the trucks of grapes arrive at the winery they all must be weighed to see how many tons of grapes are being dropped off. Olivia has the trucks drive onto a bridge and weighs them. She then inputs all of the data in an accounting system that tracks the fruit and juice. This information is very important because it allows the winemakers to know what type of grapes have arrived, where they are coming from, how much they weigh, and what time they have arrived.

Kyle is working on the press. Drylands has 5 presses, all of which can process 50-75 tons of grapes at a time. These presses, crush the grapes to get the juice out. Kyle is responsible for making sure the press is operating correctly, and that after the grapes have been pressed, the juice gets sent to the right holding tanks. This involves setting up a series of pumps and huge hoses from the crusher to the tanks, cleaning the tanks and the crusher, and ensuring that the right amount of juice is added to each of the tanks.

Although these are our technical jobs, this is not what we have been doing this week. As you can see in the pictures, Drylands is one of the largest wineries in the area- that means a lot of tanks and a lot of equipment. But most importantly, this means a shit ton of cleaning. We have a crew of 40 people working this whole week to clean the entire operation in order to prepare for the harvest. Olivia has been climbing in the crusher scrubbing bird droppings while Kyle has been cleaning tanks. 

Neither of these jobs is very glamorous, but it is giving us a great opportunity to learn about the winemaking process. Next week the grapes will start rolling in by the truckload and we will be working from 7am-7pm 6 days a week. Once harvest begins we will be receiving 50 tons of grapes an hour.  The next few weeks should be pretty hectic, but we cannot wait to keep learning at Dryands.

(Keep in mind that wine making is an industrial profession- the romantic, quaint side will be posted soon)

The Boys ready for work before dawn. The Smerf suits were complimentary.  Olivia thinks her pair of Gum boots are cute and wants to take them home. Kyle usually gets rid of the jump suit and can be seen running around in his rugby shorts and tank top.

We have been at work for an hour... You are looking at the Tippy Tanks. (they literally tip onto their sides) Drylands has tanks from 5,000L to  200,000L.

The one and only tool you must always have. You may know it as a wrench but apparently it is actually a spinner. You need these wrenches to connect all the hoses and pumps.

Inside the cellar. These are the smallest tanks for perfecting the wine.

Looking out over the tankfield with the main Drylands building in the distance

This is a glorified box of wine, only the box is a shipping container. We do not bottle any of the wine on location so everything we ship out is in bags in containers like this one. Guess where this one is headed?? None other than the beautiful port of Oakland, CA!

One of the 5 presses Kyle will be working on. The container on the bottom  is called the coffin and that is where the grape juice drains to.

First juice of the year filling the coffin. Pinot Noir!