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Published: October 5th 2014
It seems only fitting that I start this blog with a glass of Paradisos Sève in my hand. A smooth, crisp, white wine that flowers over the tastebuds of this usually red wine drinker’s tongue.
WWOOFing or World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms Today marks a week of my working on the Paradisos del Sol Vineyard as a WWOOFer in Zillah, Washington. WWOOFing is a work exchange program that provides individuals with the opportunity to learn about and take part in organic farming across the globe. In exchange for anywhere between 20-35 hours a week of work, the host provides room and board. Opportunities range from working on vineyards, dairies, orchards, ranches, and homesteads, along with other options.
Reconnecting with Roomie
Jhene, my roommate from Alaska and future New Zealand travel companion, worked at Paradisos del Sol in the spring of this year. She fell in love with Paul and Barbara, the winegrower and his wife, and the vineyard and farm lifestyle. She came back and invited me to join her for the Fall harvest.
I flew down from Anchorage, after turning 30 and spending a few weeks catching up with friends, hiking, fishing, and visiting Solo’s Russian
Orthodox Village in the Kenai. After 11 hours, a plane, shuttle, and car ride later, I was at my new home. Jhene toured me through the property. I met the pigs, sheep, chickens, cows, cats and dogs. We snacked on green beans and raspberries in the garden and then went and walked down the long dirt road to the vineyards tasting the different types of grapes.
Rattlesnake Hills
Coming on the weekend was a pretty good introduction to living in wine country. Surrounded by the Rattlesnake Hills and overshadowed by Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, the vineyards and orchards of Zillah roll in lush green waves for miles until they abruptly end on the edge of the desert. After a long work week in the vineyard, the weekend was spent recovering over good food and, well, wine drinking. Zillah has no town or nightlife to speak as there are only two restaurants, one grocery store, and 20 wineries in a 10 mile radius. So literally the only thing to go do is wine taste at neighboring vineyards. So for my first full day in town, Jhene and Clayton took me to a number of tasting rooms. Seth joined us
Punchdown
Every 12 hours I did punchdown, which is mixing 8 bins of over 7.5 tons of fermenting grapes. later at J Bell, which by far had the best atmosphere and outdoor seating. Later we went to Dineen for wood-fired pizza and, you guessed it, more wine tasting.
Punchdown
Over the weekend I started the task of “punchdown”. This involves punching down a foot of grape skins that rest on the top of the juices while they ferment in 220 gallon bins in the front of the property. The Sangiovese is meant to be red, so mixing the skin of the grapes in with the juices as it ferments creates this coloring. There are eight of these bins and the process at first took me about an hour, if you include the time I spent re-covering the bins to keep out the fruit flies. This process takes place every 12 hours for about a week and a half. Despite popular belief, a white wine does not always come from a white grape.
Music and Outdoor Wining and Dining
Sunday night Paul made us an incredible dinner on the outside grill. Slava, a classical Russian composer and his wife, Maggie, a dentist and yoga instructor, joined us for the dinner party. We set up a table in the
grass with cloth napkins, roses, and ample wine. Paul made skewers of pork and pineapple served with his famous peanut sauce, caprese salad, and sauteed veggies from the garden. After the meal, Slava serenaded us with his guitar while the twilight danced over the vineyards and Rattlesnake Hills. As the sun crept below the horizon, we moved into the tasting room where both Slava and I took turns playing the piano. Barbara even graced us with the one song she knows.
Harvesting and Pressing
On Monday and Tuesday the real work began. We harvested Riesling (which you should know is a type of grape, not a type of wine). Two abuelas, Maria, and Berthe, and one of their daughter-in-laws Cecilia, picked with us. I am pretty sure the abuelas did most of the picking. Their speed and experience is impeccable and inspiring. I hope that when I am in my 60’s I am going just as strong as they are. Together, we all managed to pick 3.2 tons of grapes over two days.
Tuesday, my Uncle John and Aunt Rene came by the vineyard. They were driving through on their way back to southern California after purchasing their
retirement home in Idaho. Thanks to the random world of Facebook posts we were able to connect as our paths crossed, When they first arrived, I gave them the tour of the property and met the animals.
While they were here, we all went with Paul to Bonair Winery where he rented their stainless steel machinery to press the juices from the grapes. A tub of grapes was first dumped into a vat where an auger sifted them into a destemmer that crushed them and removed the vines. Then the grapes and juice were sent through a hose to a large press where the juice rained down into a basin and was then pumped into several 300-gallon enclosed bins. These were then loaded onto the truck and brought back to Paradisos del Sol. The juice would then live out its fermenting days in these white canisters for up to a year. While at Bonair, we saw the bottling room where Paradisos del Sol also does their bottling. The system was pretty impressive as it actually pours the wine into the bottles, corks them, and labels them all by machine.
Wine Tasting at Paradisos del Sol
Since I had
yet to do a formal tasting at Paradisos del Sol, I did the wine tasting with my Aunt and Uncle. Paul is a firm believer in pairing wine with food, so he provides a little taste of something with each wine. He walks the taster through the wine tasting process, which he sums up in sip, sip, bite, sip. His wealth of knowledge and decades of experience is highly complemented by his passion for winemaking. We got the extended one-hour wine-tasting session, which was thoroughly informative and enjoyable. Previously, I had done six other tastings at neighboring wineries and none of them even came close to the attention to detail Paul put into the tasting process. But, I realize that each wine taster has their own agenda, so if you want to taste quality wine and get the full experience, go to Paradisos del Sol. If you want to get tipsy on large pourings of low quality wine, go to Maison de Padgett.
That night I made us all dinner and we sipped wine until it was time for punchdown. I gave my Aunt and Uncle the tutorial while I went bin to bin with the punchdown tool (a
2x4 attached to the end of a broom handle) and told them what I had learned thus far.
Other Chores, Acroyoga, and Lounging in the Yard
On Wednesday we spent the day doing house-related chores like cleaning the second tasting room, organizing food storage and organizing the front and side porch where wine tasters come in. I picked green beans and tomatoes from the garden and did the morning and evening punchdown. John and Rene came over after we had finished our chores and we sat out in the yard with a bottle of wine. The sun was out as it has been the entire time I have been here and Jhene and I gave everyone an acroyoga demonstration. Later that evening John and Rene took us out to dinner at El Ranchito, and Paul brought three bottles of wine. After that my Aunt and Uncle were on their way.
Harvest Fest complete with Foot Pressing
Thursday, Jhene, her brother Daniel, and I picked the row of Orange Muscat grapes. After we filled about an eighth of a bin we got to press the grapes by foot. Our feet were rinsed off and then we each jumped in
Grape Stomping
Jhene and I stomping the orange muscat the bin barefoot. We grabbed each other’s shoulders to keep from slipping and stomped away. Barbara joined us for a while and the whole process lasted less than 30 minutes. Though we had no crowns of hops in our hair, nor wine in our hands, the sun gently graced our skin while white puffy clouds rejoiced in the mini Harvest celebration with us.
Circo del Paradisos
Jhene was conveniently traveling with her pole and I with my aerials silks. Between the two of us and our acro yoga, Paradisos del Sol was just one clown away from a three ring circus. We had multiple people come over throughout the week to see our “acts.” We even gave a few tutorials to other winemakers and friends. On top of all of the work, we even managed to go to several yoga classes during the week!
Over the last week, Paul has taught me a great deal about making wine, including that a winemaker's main task is dishes! Barbara has been an incredible host in opening her home to us. Meeting both of them has made me very grateful for this WOOFing experience. I am eager to explore other WWOOFing
opportunities. Who knows, maybe I will become an international cellar rat by working on several wineries in New Zealand!
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Robbie Freestate
non-member comment
Rebekah, your life is a long trail of wondrous, outlandish adventures all piled on one another. Most of us who count you as a friend are envious, but too cautious to throw ourselves into life as richly as you do. Keep it up all your days.