It's common in the wine industry to work 4/10s. Ten hours a day for four days a week instead of the traditional eight hours for five days. This means three day weekends every weekend, which is a welcome change from the 'no weekends ever' schedule we were following during Harvest. Last week was the first week on the new schedule. And I spent my First Free Friday at UC Davis for 8 hours in a winemaking seminar:
It was very much like being in school again, in an all day lecture taking notes. The topic was fermentation tains, like rose taint and sulfur taint, and we tasted 16 wines spiked with some terrible defects like "rotten egg" and "fecal". And I loved it. About 150 wine professionals from all over California gathered at UC Davis to brush up on our ester and sulfur knowledge. Davis holds about 3 winemaking seminars a year and I have yet to miss one. I would like to post about ester taints but that's for another time.
That same Friday night we had our Holiday party. As an industry, we work hard but we also party hard. Harvest parties and Holiday parties are no joke. I know everyone has the capacity to party hard, but I think we have an edge because we get to practice so much. We gathered at the bosses's house where there was plenty of wine, beer and japanese whiskey. I took some great footage of a speed quarters game, T doing magic tricks and Intern J forcing his elbows to touch (each other!) and I wish so mightily that I could post it. But alas I am afraid of being fired and/or beat up.
During and after speed quarters we played another fun game: "Guess My Blood Alcohol Content". The boss man surprised and amused us with a breathalyzer that we all took turns blowing into. We each had our own tip that connected to it and as the night went on, T and I became acutely aware of how much we were enjoying ourselves. We enjoyed ourselves a lot.
This is the first party I've been to where this has happened, and it was awkward and silly, but unfortunately necessary. We party and drink and then drive home. All the time. Especially in this industry I think we are desensitized because it's so common. People absolutely drink and drive home.
Anyway, although the breathalyzer helped us get home safely it could not prevent some of us from giving the rest of us some great stories to tell Monday morning around the water cooler.
-L
P.S. If anyone is braver than I am, I would enjoy some of your holiday party stories. And if we see each other in person, I will absolutely share the footage I can't post.
