Disclaimer: I will apologize right now that this post is informative as to what I’ve been doing, it lacks in any witty comments or profound statements. As the good blaming American I will blame the heat for the lack of brain power.
Started work on Thursday, thankfully. At least it’s the idea of getting paid without actually receiving a check, but its on the way. The winery is big for what I’m used to, but medium size in the grand scheme of things. The winery was purchased a few years ago by a larger winery group called lion, and as opposed to even Domaine Serene, A LOT of money has been pumped into this place. Most of the equipment is “automated”, and all I have to do is hook up the right lines and select what is going where when and for how long. Simple stuff really. Automatic barrel fillers, UV cleaners, a movable press, its going to seem so easy…yea right. None of you care very much about that stuff though. Let me walk you through my first two days of work at St. Hallett.
Day 1: meet everyone (2 Californians, 2 kiwi’s, 1 Portuguese, 1 Canadian, and 6 Aussies) introductions, training, tour, lunch, workplace training, blah blah blah. Boring but necessary.
Day 2: meet for a more official walkthrough safety tour. You know, don’t fall into a tank, don’t get hit by the forklift, don’t leap from one catwalk to the next, if you light yourself on fire go here. Just general workplace hazards. That was about till ten or so. Then we tasted through the lineup of wines at St. Hallett. They have some very nice big reds. Again, Dad you would love every wine from the Barossa. After that most of the entire staff walked up for the main road with beer and bubbles and hung out for an hour and a half watching bike riders come by until the actual Tour down under road by. Side note, watching a bike race on television, awesomely entertaining, watching a bike race in real life; arguably the most anticlimactic sporting event in the world. Bbq lunch after followed by a pseudo game of cricket. I had a coupe of good hits and I wasn’t all that bad at balling (throwing). Cricket is slower than baseball, with a short match lasting 3 hours and a long match lasting for 5 days. I’m not going to go into the spark notes version of the game, which I believe I now possess, but it’s pretty simple. Did I mention that they paid all of us during these team-building exercises. All in all this is going to be a great winery to work for.
I’m half looking for a place to live other than this hostel for no other reason than there are cheaper rooms for rent in town with amenities I don’t have to pay for. Unfortunately, the hostel is new and none of the policies are geared towards long term stay. To me there is a clear line between those who are staying for a night or even a week as opposed to those staying long-term, and certain amenities need to be made available for a more reasonable cost. Let’s just say I’ll be keeping my options open.
Yesterday being Saturday we were good interns and sampled the local wines. Big reds rein supreme, fortified’s are common but questionable, and Eden valley Riesling has been the biggest disappointment. The best wine so far has either been a giant high end Cabernet from Two Hands, or one of the big Shiraz’s from Torbreck, both wineries I think you can get at Hi-times. For this being Australia’s Napa valley, I expected there to be more wineries. Then again there are more people in California than Australia, so not as high of a national demand. It’s also strange to be to be surrounded by some very large facilities; Jacobs Creek, Penfeilds, and Wolf blass (yellow tail) are all within biking distance. Still some of the high-end wineries are very worth tasting making wine in a style unique to this area. Before we wine tasted we went to the local farmers market. Parents be jealous, this farmers market was in a big barn on the outskirts of the next town up. A great farmers market, all good local produce including lots of local meats. I bought two lamb steaks that will be bbq’d this afternoon. Pushed to the back was a lot of really old winery equipment from big casks to old tanks. Saturday also had a hot rod show in downtown Taunda. It was the closest I’ve felt to being in the central valley yet. How to speak Australian: Bogan is a redneck. I’m also putting together a picture album for facebook, but with primitive Internet I need to find more consumer friendly source to designate the time necessary.
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