Purple Sludge

The purple sludge

Day 3 was spent at the Jessup Cellars winery in Napa. It was beautiful 65 degrees out today, however I froze in the warehouse where Lindsay and I observed how the wine was racked, meaning the wine was moved from one barrel to another with out transferring the sediment, or lees. In order to remove the lees, the winemaker and his assistant used nitrogen to suck out the wine into a tank because it minimizes the amount of oxygen the wine is exposed to. Less exposure to oxygen is important because wine changes its flavor as oxygen is exposed to it. Next, the barrels were washed out and the sediment looked like purple sludge. The barrels were then left to dry for a few hours. Then the wine is pumped back into the clean barrels. This process is done 3 times during the aging of the wine before it is bottled.

In the early afternoon we learned from Rob and Charlie, the winemakers, how to test the wine and why they test it. All the wine varieties are tested every month to check that they are fermenting correctly to give them the flavor the winemakers want the wines to have. One machine can test the pH, ethanol, volatile acidity and total acidity levels. The ethanol level is always one the winemakers are concerned about due to the fact that if the level is over 14%, the tax-bracket changes. It is also important because many Americans prefer to drink a lower alcohol content wine and if it is over 14% many will not purchase it because of that factor.

Lindsay and I also finally went to a grocery store! We had been living off of spaghetti and bagels so we were so excited to finally eat some other food! We filled our cart full! It was like buying for a family, however now we will be eating good for the next couple of weeks.

After getting home and making taco salads, Chris, one of the guys who works in the tasting room, took us girls out to John Anthony’s in Napa for a wine tasting. John Anthony wine is actually made at Jessup Cellars. It is the slow time in the wine industry from January until March so there were not many people there, but it was fun and we learned a ton. I cannot even believe how much I am learning! I never would have learned this much sitting in a classroom. It is great actually putting myself in the wine industry.