The Day Before the Day I Made Wine

As the phone was ringing, I had no idea what to say. ‘Hello, my name is Liz and I want to help you crush grapes.” That didn’t sound right. (I’d wait to see if I was rejected before I’d give my name.)

At the end of my last wine tasting class, I asked Instructor Molly how she started learning about wine. She said that she started working at Jefferson Vineyards in Charlottesville, VA (yeeeah, Cville!) and then moved out to Napa Valley, worked at Stag’s Leap and received formal instruction. The conversation culminated in this advice: “You should volunteer for a crush! You’ll learn a lot that way.”

A “crush” is the period of the winemaking process right after harvest. Grapes are sorted and smashed before they’re left to ferment. By my rudimentary calculations, crush time was going on right now, but would probably be done after another month. I had to act fast.

I pulled up www.virginiawine.org and started looking through the list of wineries in the Northern Virginia Wine Region. I’d only visited one on the list, Boxwood Winery, owned by former Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke. I tried them first. Unfortunately I hadn’t really thought about my ‘speal’ until right before someone picked up. It wasn’t pretty…

“Hi! Um, do you take volunteers for your harvest and crush? ”

“Who is this?” Shoot.

“My name is Liz…My wine tasting instructor said volunteering at a winery is a great way to learn about wine.” <>

“Oh, can you come tomorrow?”

“YES.”

I almost hung up in victory but am very glad I got more details.

“What do I wear?” Answer: Clothes you can stain.

“What time should I get there?” Answer: 7AM (staying until 7PM at least).

I thought I’d quit while I was still welcome. “OK! See you tomorrow!” Awesome! I spent the next 3 hours at TJ Maxx buying clothes I could swim in wine vats with.