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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Featured Galleries: March 27, 2007 Winemaking apprentice, Part 2 By Lorn Razzano Tidings Correspondent After fighting off the yellow jackets, the heat of the day and the chill of the nights and mornings the grapes were finally at the winery and ready to go. Early that morning we, the 15 winery workers, were asked to assemble in the dining hall (tractor shed) and were told we would be given our next assignments. I was eagerly anticipating working next to the winemaker helping with crush and light pressing, as well as helping with the fermentor and perhaps working in the lab. We were each handed a slip of paper which gave us our next three week assignment. I had no idea what my slip said! The assignment I received was to report every morning to an address a few blocks down the road then to take a dirt road a few kilometers to a farmhouse which sat at a crest of a hill. I looked dumbly at the note asked a few questions then walked to my little Mini Cooper and drove away. Everyone else, it seemed, stayed at the winery and continued with their education. I took a hard right at the end of the village and bounced along the road as it made its way up the hill to this very quaint yellow patina farmhouse on the crest of this very lovely, wooded knoll. As I got out of the car I saw a very spry older woman standing in her door way with her hands on her hips. She had been waiting for me patiently and thanked me profusely for coming. It was time, she said, to begin working. She lead me to the side of the farmhouse where there was a large opening leading downward to her cellar. In the cellar was an enormous basket press with a stout, long wooden arm hitched to a horse with a leather harness. The horse stood on a century old circular path that went around the press and as he walked with the arm of the press hooked to his back harness a plate was screwed down in the press to squeeze the grapes! I just stood there, dreams of a high tech winery experience was dashed forever from my heart. It was then that she patted me on the back, nodded and spoke in perfect Italian! So here I was in the heart of France making wine like the ancient Gauls and speaking Italian while the rest of the students were doing high tech winery training less than a few kilometers away. It turned out that this would not be my only horse-winery experience but that this very old woman was a gem of a lady, her wine turned out to be pretty darned good and she was simply the best chef this side of my mother, who I think might be the best chef alive. I was chosen to help her, I found out very soon, because she was from Italy and had married a French gentleman in 1915 who had died in the war (World War 1!) She had never remarried but had continued on with the tiny winery, baked bread and sold eggs. Because I was of Italian heritage, spoke the language well and loved wine, I was chosen to be her apprentice for the time being. I was being farmed out it seemed so I tried to make the best of the situation. This turned out to be one of the highlights of my young life. After hitching the horse to the harness and squeezing the grapes. In a very slow walk around the circle one of her friends would come by and take the juice to six very old concrete fermentors on the other side of the press. I would unharness the horse and take him out to the side of the farmhouse, brush him down and feed and water him. After tethering him to a post, I would help with the fermenter, clean the barrels and scour the bottles and bottling line. Then it was time to eat! Part 3 next week. Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising: Debt Help Inkjet Printers Payday Loans Free Ringtones Debt Consolidation Security Systems Debt Relief New Hampshire Primary Advertisement: Copyright © 2007 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved. Del.icio.us