Day 7 (24 August 2010):
I must have stood under the piping hot shower for close to 15 minutes and with a mug of hot tea in hand, I was feeling human again. Today I felt really cold – it must have been like 5 °C inside the winery and staying at this temperature from 7:45 am to 4:15 pm was quite tough on the system, even with my oversized bright orange Taltarni fleece on. I should have worn two pairs of trousers! I found my teeth chattering, my hands frozen to almost numbness, both my legs shivering vigorously inside my trousers to the point that I felt I was about to pull a muscle or something in one of my legs! As I am writing this in the warmth of my bedroom, I can still hear the wind howling outside but there seems to be a temporary respite from the torrential rain storm, until the next one comes along. The Taltarni chime has just stricken five……
Today was all about preparation for tomorrow’s bottling of the Sauvignon Blanc from Tank No. 15. But first of all, Deb and I cleaned the tank which we had pad filtered yesterday. At the bottom of the tank was a thickish layer of clayey fluid of bentonite and other sediments. We gave the tank a thorough rinse, first with hot water, then with Cleanskin (a detergent like substance but in powder form and needed to be mixed with water), and finally with Linvasan (a slightly caustic substance like a peroxide that was also mixed with water before use). We pumped the cleaning agent through and drained the horrible stuff out of the bottom of the tank. A slight drama slowed us down: the pump managed to suck out the rubber seal for the tank lid and caused the machine to choke and stop. We then had to call in technical support to retrieve the rubber before continuing. A slight hiccup but a worthwhile lesson learnt – first time for Deb too! At least the pump was stopped early enough and was not forced to burn out!
Then Deb and I prepared the length of the hose for the bottling tomorrow. I had lost count of how many hoses were required but connected, they would probably reach more than 1 km. We then prepared the pad filter, cartridge filter and membrane by inserting new pads, clean cartridges and clean membranes. The cartridges and membranes were both 70s, which I think meant 0.45 micrometer sized filter holes. The pads were 60s, which would be slightly bigger. Every piece of equipment had to be first tested with passing water through, then sulphur citric solution, followed by Linvasan, to be fully assured that they were completely clean and sterilized before the bottling. First thing tomorrow morning, Jaye and Happy (who’re on the first shift that starts at 5:30 am) would have to recycle wine from the tank through all the filters before the bottling wine would start. Deb would be on the second shift (2 – 10 pm) and she would have to pack everything up and prepare the same stuff for the following day’s bottling. At bottling, the wine would be pumped out of the tank, through the pad filters, then along the length of the hoses, to the bottling area, where it would pass through first the cartridge filter, then the membrane filter, before being bottled.
Some final additions were made, including some copper sulphate to remove any potential hydrogen sulphide.
A sample of the wine was then sent to be analysed for TA and RS before bottling.
We also did a few other chores in the afternoon, such as cleaning out the rest of the bentonite that would clog up the drains if left to harden.
No amount of walking up and down the stairs in the winery would warm me up. My mind kept thinking of the hot shower and a hot chocolate (alas I didn’t have any)! It would be quite interesting to see the bottling tomorrow – it would be T-Series Sauvignon Blanc. At least I would be inside a warmer area!
Lesson #7: Apart from physical strength, the ability to withstand extreme heat and cold seems also to be written in the list of skills required for a winery worker! I am full of admiration for this hardy lot!
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