“There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison. We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself? That is why life is always like a sketch. No, "sketch" is not quite a word, because a sketch is an outline of something, the groundwork for a picture, whereas the sketch that is our life is a sketch for nothing, an outline with no picture.”
- Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being -
- Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being -
Well, this is another time that I have to leave you all , again; I still remember how my feeling with a heavy heart while I was there during the last night, which not any better than last time I was left Weingut Karl.H.Johner. But the different is : This time with less sadness. I believe if we are still in the same industry like this that we love, we definitely will meet again someday in somewhere. So this "GoodBye" just for the time being. Thank you so much for taking such good care on me and I was always felt being welcomed. Best Wishes !!
At this place, it is special as I was not only learn how to work on Vine / Wine, but also how to live - The meaning of Life Style itself; A brand new direction of thoughts, and seems like there is a bright path ahead that I wish I am able to grab and make it become real in the future, and keep going on it till the end.
" Earn for Living", these words I was learnt from a senior in Harbor Grand Hong Kong, and now I've got the meaning by practice and experience. These changes, may have a far - reaching influence for my whole life......
18th Dec, 2016. I was so glad being invited having a pre-celebrate dinner party with all staff and their families. Although are not any fancy things : We ate, We talked, and back to cellar having party 2nd Round again; We drank, We sang Christmas Songs together. I felt so warm with all of you even in a such chilled night.
" Earn for Living", these words I was learnt from a senior in Harbor Grand Hong Kong, and now I've got the meaning by practice and experience. These changes, may have a far - reaching influence for my whole life......
“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. But my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.”
- The Fault in Our Stars -
- The Fault in Our Stars -
Days back to the season of harvesting. Boxes and boxes of grapes were sent by this truck day by day. We were worked around the clock about 13 -15 hours per day, from 8am to unknown, Monday to Sunday. Recalling from my memory, this kind of life was last for around 5 weeks.
- 1st Pick arrived - 19th Sep - Harvest 2016 - Weingut Karl.H.Johner -
Life within this period is just awake for work and sleep when back to the house, even don't have time to go shopping from supermarket. Yea, that was a bit tough and boring, just like working in Hong Kong, but this is more physically required and, here is far much colder like a frozen robot. Well, think positively, you can taste different varieties of grapes: Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot etc ..... and eat as much as you want; However , in another words, there were too much that I was quite a bit tried of it at that moment. When the harvesting faded out at the end, I felt relief; Also I've got the chances working in the vineyard too. And now, after I've experienced from all these, I'll say I have much more appreciation in this winemaking industry.
0. This is a kind of good weather when doing harvest. Heavy rain is horrible in between, not on day but for next few days; As rootstock of vine will pick up too much water, although grapes will become bigger, sugar contain, flavors and intensity will be diluted. And for human being or myself mainly, it is always good to work under soft sunshine of course....
1. Most of the time during harvest I was being with German college - Lawrence doing jobs in Cellar, and those picking duties were handled by a group of workers mainly from Poland & Romania.
2. Selection actually are started when the grape was picked on the field.
- 1st Pick arrived - 19th Sep - Harvest 2016 - Weingut Karl.H.Johner -
Life within this period is just awake for work and sleep when back to the house, even don't have time to go shopping from supermarket. Yea, that was a bit tough and boring, just like working in Hong Kong, but this is more physically required and, here is far much colder like a frozen robot. Well, think positively, you can taste different varieties of grapes: Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot etc ..... and eat as much as you want; However , in another words, there were too much that I was quite a bit tried of it at that moment. When the harvesting faded out at the end, I felt relief; Also I've got the chances working in the vineyard too. And now, after I've experienced from all these, I'll say I have much more appreciation in this winemaking industry.
1. Most of the time during harvest I was being with German college - Lawrence doing jobs in Cellar, and those picking duties were handled by a group of workers mainly from Poland & Romania.
3. A box of Grapes like this is weight about 400Kg；From 8am to 6pm, there will be more than 20 boxes if those workers are go whole hog.。
4. After measuring the weight for each box, grapes are going to be destemmed through the carrier. There is a roller in the destemming machine, operating in extremely high speed to generate the centrifugal force for separating the stem and berries.
5. After destem, Berries will come out through the bottom of machine and transfer to Optical Sorting Machine (Left) for further selection.
5a. The side face of Optical Sorting Machine. By entering different programs, it can blow out those fault berries, small stems and leafs by using Gas suitable for both Red & White Berries. There is a high-speed camera installed, which shooting at thousands frames per second with billions - pixel resolution and LED lighting to illuminate the grapes without heating them.
5b. In here you will find those fault grapes were blew out by the machine. There were some rotted, over-ripped or under-ripped.
6. Even pass through the sorting machine, there are some fault grapes still exist. In order to getting grapes with the best quality, we still have to do the sorting by hand. That's always talking about 6 - 7 hours work on it.
6a. In the front part & the end of Sorting Table, there are different size of holes. Through vibration which was generated by the engine under the table, grapes will be fallen if they are too small.
6b. And those Grapes stay till the end will be the great one and it tasted Yummy ~ !
7. This is how the overview setup looks like - Photo from Patrick Johner
Alright, at this stage, I think I am better to put a pause about the harvest first. Because when talking further, there will be a long long passage which are related and has to go through. 
Vineyard in the winter - Weingut Kuhling Gallot & Battenfeild Spanier - HohenSulzen
I am always feel amazing when tasting those wine which are still fermenting. In HohenSulzen we've done a few wine tasting together from barrels and stainless steel tanks after work. The German supervisor - Axel, the man who was in this industry for many years also worked in Italy and Australia. He was always explain about Terrior - different kinds of soil like Gravel, Limestone, Slate etc, how it will affect the wine. In this place, I've came across how charming that German Riesling can be. That's all about its delicacy & elegance.
Underground Cellar - Weingut Kuhling Gallot & Battenfield Spanier - HohenSulzen
Back to reality, after all those fermentation done, now is the time to analyze the result : how is the wine going to be?
16th -19th, December. Under the instruction of Axel, I was gathered up wine simple from different tanks & barrels. I think there are about 40s kind of wine in total.
So all these simples will send to the lab and analyze its sugar contain, alcohol level, acidity and sulfur etc. Then, winemaker will decide recipe - how will be the best to blend these element together. For example, several hundred liters from Tank A mixed with several hundred liters from Barrel A. They told me it just like cooking.
When the time is come, maybe some of them gone through enough barrel aging, after all those filtering, bottling, labeling & packing process, that's the wine in front of me.
Molsheim Riesling 2013 from Battenfeild Spainer, a Riesling in great quality is always worth to wait a bit for drinking to see how it can be developed. From flavor profiles, even the time did its job and still an aromatic one: Dry fruit notes are started to take place on fresh fruit, Peachy, Pineapple, White Flowers with Minerality and hints of Honeydew; On the palate, those sharpness acidity become soften and friendly; You can feel the structure of body is still sturdy but not over heavy, and imagine it should be even stronger when it was young; All those components tend to be more stick together benefited from aging but the con is that it made the finish a little shorter than it should be. This is definitely a decent one even it just sightly started drop from the peak. Overall when you are looking for a German Riesling with quality and good in value, this is the one.
And, please feel free to let me know if you'll like to get a bottle, maybe we should find a nice day and talk about this nice wine together with a glass on hand ~ ~
Photo on Eiserner Steg - Frankfurt - 3rd, Dec, 2016
Two jobs out of Three were finished. Now is my Winter Holiday ahead to Italy next week: Roma -> Florence -> Venice -> Millan -> Germany. Visiting Wineries in Montalcino, Barolo & Barbaresco should be one of the main aim about this trip. Hoping everything will be fined. And, when I am back my last job will be started in February.
Next Stop: Winningen in Mosel - Weingut Heymann Lowenstein
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