Vino In My Dino

Weighing Grapes

September 19, 2014 15:47

Our weigh station is the first stop our grapes make after they are harvested. It is one of the many requirements by the government to report tonnage since we are in the business of making wine, an alcoholic beverage—we call it part of everyday life. We are meticulous in sending the correct information, nevertheless. My dad Jim remembers the scale was installed in the late 1940s to weigh in trucks loaded with grape boxes and later gondolas overflowing with fruit. The building has expanded a bit, like the other parts of the winery, to make room for our growing production. During the early years, it was the epicenter of the winery with side-by-side offices for both Jim and John (the building is about 100 square feet!) and has played an important role in both marketing and winemaking over the years. I remember when my mom used to weigh in the trucks and gondolas as she balanced (pun intended) raising my three sisters and me. Our home, now our marketing offices, was just steps away. You can see our former home through the window! My Uncle John’s office and wine lab that he shares with Montse is now across the yard. The weigh station also contains our Cellarmaster Polo’s office today. As you can see, this is no digital scale--we prefer the ‘hands on’ method even when weighing our grapes.

Montse, associate winemaker, is at the ready for another load of grapes in the photo below. I can see we’ll have some delicious vino for my Dino in the next year or so.

Montse at Scale

 

Tags: Pedroncelli, Cellar, Harvest
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