The 5 acres of Merlot, in front of these skilled pickers, were basically not a matter, and in the morning, they had it done. This is followed by the harvesting of Zinfandelle.

Monterena's Zinfandel is mostly used to make old vine Zinfandel alone, except for the occasional small amount used in blending. After a simple cleaning of the press, the zinfandel press begins.

The first to pick was the 1972 Zinfandelle, from which Xiao Yifei experienced the taste of strawberries or blueberries.

Next is the 94-year-old Zinfandel, Xiao Yifei experienced more blueberry flavor.

In a hurry, all the other grapes were finally harvested on October 2nd. Now the whole estate is in a waiting period again, because the most difficult battle is about to begin, and there are more than 200 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon to be picked. It can be said that Cabernet Sauvignon is completely the main force of the winery, producing about 25,000 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon every year, with a small output of 300,000 bottles.

Cameron: They have been praying in between the two busy days, praying that the weather in October will be the best as in September.

The weather was pretty good in September, except for a light rain when the Sauvignon Blanc was harvested, and it was sunny or cloudy after that.

Their prayers had no effect, just entering October, after everyone harvested Zinfandelle, it rained for 3 days in a row, so that the maximum temperature during the day plummeted from 35 degrees in September to 15 degrees, and the whole Napa Valley immediately became the temperature of late autumn and early winter.

Fortunately, the rain stopped the day before yesterday and the temperature rose again to 21 degrees. But don't be too happy, the weather forecast says that it will only be sunny for another 5 days, and it will be another autumn rain. In other words, the Cabernet Sauvignon must be picked in these 5 days.

The 220-acre, more than 400-ton Cabernet Sauvignon had to be harvested in five days, which was not a small project. According to the relatively high work efficiency, 12 workers can pick 2 tons of grapes in 1 hour. If the task is to be completed on time, the contingent of temporary workers must be expanded again.

Monterey is not alone in this urgent situation, as wineries north of Napa Valley are almost all facing this time-saving situation. Everyone is short of people, and it is very difficult to find enough people.

Fortunately, with David's face, he pulled two teams of people from another harvesting company, and then Bart of Alrozhu Winery also sent a team of people to help, he said that his grapes would ripen later, and they would not be picked until the autumn rain in 5 days, and he could lend Xiao Yifei the time period he had booked for manpower first.

If he had harvested after the autumn rains, his grapes would have been the last to be picked in Napa Valley. The late picking period is probably related to the so-called retro flow he made.

Now that David has enough manpower, the contingent of temporary workers has reached 100 people, and he can pick the Cabernet Sauvignon in five days. It's just that these workers have to work a little harder during this time, at least 8 hours a day.

Don't think that these 8 hours are easy, they not only have to bend down to cut the bunches of grapes, but also walk over to pour the grapes, there is not much time to rest at all, if you add the time to eat and rest halfway, basically every day is busy from dawn to dark. It still makes sense to earn a salary of more than $100 a day.

Cabernet Sauvignon is also a red wine, and the whole pressing and fermentation process is exactly the same as other red wines, and after so many days of running-in on the winery's side, even temporary workers can complete the task very well.

Xiao Yifei came to the vineyard to check the harvest, don't look at the salary of more than 10,000 US dollars a day, but these people are really capable, and they are not using the scissors that Xiao Yifei plays, but a special harvesting knife.

The harvesting knife is smaller than the palm of the hand, it is a small hook knife, the inner edge is very sharp, and there are some serrations, as long as the knife is inserted into the junction of the grape bunch and the stem, a pull, the grape bunch will fall off, it is easy to do, but it is not easy to be fast.

These workers enter the vineyards on a large scale from May to June, intermittently busy for half a year, from the budding of the grapes to the harvest, which is enough to earn enough for one year. Except for obvious novices, they all become veterans after a year or two.

Xiao Yifei was watching the filming of temporary workers picking grapes, and Bo hurriedly came over and took Xiao Yifei aside.

"Shaw, have you heard?"

Xiao Yifei was completely confused.

"What? What did you say? ”

"I heard that some people want to promote the reorganization of the board of directors and let the number of directors be selected according to the production area."

"Oh, I heard, Bart told me."

"Does he want you to support him?"

"Bo, I am still a director seat left by you, do you think I am new to the council and can still stay in the council position?"

"That's just as well. But it's a pity, if you reorganize it in a few years, maybe you have a chance. ”

"It doesn't matter, anyway, I'm sure the council re-election won't mess around. And making good wine is the last word. ”

"Well, indeed, being able to make money is the truth."

Beau hurried back to the winery again.

The Mexican foreman, Ah Pei, now has more workers, and has dispatched a small tractor to pull a flatbed truck instead of manual transportation, and he has also left the job of running around with a box. He saw Xiao Yifei here, and slowly came over.

"Hi, boss, the grapes are not bad this year."

"Well, it's okay, if only the weather were better."

After chatting for a while, Ngapoi began to complain.

"Hi, boss, you should also take care of the new groups."

"What's wrong?"

"They were slow to pick, a little clumsy, and I saw that some of the vines were hurt."

Xiao Yifei had already heard David's roar, Xiao Yifei was a complete novice, and he had already given power to Fei David in negotiations with outsourcing companies and rewards and punishments.

"Why are they in trouble?"

"Many of them are black workers who have just come over, and they have never done it before, of course they can't, where is like my team, all of them are veterans."

Xiao Yifei figured it out, he was afraid that these newcomers would rob him of his business.

At this time, David came over, and Ngapoi told David again.

David says:

"I know what you say, I see it."

Then David said to Xiao Yifei:

"Xiao, we can't look for these people next year, they are indeed novices, and they make mistakes in many places, and they are easy to hurt fruits and trees."

"Is it serious?"

"That's not serious."

Ah Pei interjected next to him and said:

"Why isn't it serious, I saw it, there are scars on the vines, and the sap is flowing out."

David said impatiently:

"You go quickly, I know what you mean, the winter scissors still have your share."

Ah Pei was immediately happy.

"Boss, manager, don't worry, make sure the winter cut is done properly. I'll go and see my subordinates first. ”

This guy turned out to be a job, no wonder he was so broken.

"Isn't he a foreman, how can he still work?"

"I don't know, I guess I want to fly solo."

"How's that group sent by Bart?"

"It's not bad, it's a skilled hand."

Having just heard what Ngapoi said, he was a little worried about whether Bart had sent his raw hands to him to train his skills. Now he was relieved: "That's good." ”

"By the way, after the grapes are harvested, there shouldn't be much going on in the vineyard in November."

"What's the matter, what's the matter with you?"

There is indeed an arrangement.

"I have an arrangement, mainly you."

"Me?"

"Yes, David, you've been wandering around the vineyard for a year, and you've been working hard for a year, and I'm going to give you a vacation so that you can spend time with your family."

David was a little apprehensive in his heart, he was a little worried that Xiao Yifei would let him take a long vacation and find someone else to replace him, and then, of course, he would be fired.

"How long?"

"About two to three weeks."

David was now at ease, in such a short period of time, it was definitely not to find someone to replace his rhythm.

"Speaking of which, I haven't been hunting for a long time, so I just asked Jonathan to go with me. How's that, Shaw, let's go hunting together? ”

Khan, hunting is such a fierce thing, let's thank you for not being sensitive. In addition, David is actually a hunting friend with Sheriff Jonathan, no wonder he is so familiar with Jonathan.

"I'm really in trouble, I have friends who want to come over to have fun, and I need to be with them."

"November in the vineyard is very simple, it's just watering and planting, you don't have to worry about it, they can do it. Fermentation there is the point. ”

David also has to show his loyalty at this time, you see, I think a lot about the winery.

"I don't know how to make wine, so I can't help much over there."

"Winemaking is relatively simple, and you're sure to learn it quickly."

"Well, I also have this plan, I plan to find a school to study, and next year I will take less grapes to practice my hands."

"Okay, I'll pick you some good grapes then, and we'll get a Monterey Owner's Brew and sell it for a thousand dollars."

Hahaha, Xiao Yifei was amused by this old man, it seems that he has a deep grudge against the "double Barrett" that Bo and Heidi made.

"By the way, after you come back from your trip, I will ask you about the winter scissors."

"Don't worry, I know how to get it, and I'm going to prune more vines next year to the configuration I just designed."

"New looks?"

"I improved the shape of the single-stemmed two-arm tree a little bit, and I tried to get a batch of winter shears last year."

"How's it going?"

"It's okay, it's good for light and wind, and it's also helpful for harvesting speed."

"Okay, do as you wish."

The next few days will really be a battle, everyone will be busy when they open their eyes, even Xiao Yifei, let alone others.

During the processing of Cabernet Sauvignon, the grapes of Cabernet Sauvignon are divided into two lines. The first line uses advanced equipment purchased by Boxin, and the wine produced is the most expensive wine of the winery, and it is also the Cabernet Sauvignon of the Monterena estate, which accounts for the majority of the winery's profits. The grapes of this wine are selected from the best grapes of the winery, with the best sweetness, ripeness, color and even the shape of the fruit clusters, which are selected, separated from the stems, and after 20% of the low-quality fruits are eliminated on the sorting table, they are sent to the air bag press, which uses a softer pressure and slower pressing, which can only process the pressing of one ton of grapes in two hours, and after the crushing is broken, the mixture is also sent to a special fermentation tank.

The other line is the lower grade of Monterrey Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, the selection of this line is not so strict, but the removal of diseased fruits and bird pecks fruit, plus the manor Cabernet Sauvignon side of the fruit picked out, together with the other air bag press, this press is more pressing, the action is slightly rougher, so that the production line processing capacity reached 1 hour 4 tons.

In this way, seasonal workers are busy picking grapes in the vineyards, the mills are busy picking and crushing the grapes, the fermentation room is busy with the fermentation of new fruit purees, and the monitoring of white and other red wines fermenting in the fermentation tanks.

The fermentation of red wine is a bit different from that of white wine, they can be fermented with the lid open. And in order to have color, fermentation with skin is necessary, but this must also bring a problem, that is, the skin will float.

The sugar is turned into alcohol by yeast, but at the same time, it is carbon dioxide gas, which is a small foam in the wine, which adheres to the skin and other insoluble substances, so that the skin naturally floats up to the surface of the fermenter.

The rise of the peel naturally brings two problems, one is that the contact surface with the wine becomes smaller, which affects the purity of the wine's color, and the other is that the surface of the peel will evaporate water, forming a layer of dry shell, covering the wine, affecting the continuation of fermentation.

In the ancient process, at this time, people had to jump down, crush this layer of dry shell, and step it back into the wine, this technique is called stepping on the skin.

But now there's a better way.

When there is not much material floating in the initial stage, you can pour the tank to avoid floating skin. After speaking, the pouring tank is to open the outlet in the middle of the fermentation tank to let the wine flow out, and then use a pump to pump the wine back to the top of the fermentation tank to increase the contact time between the wine and the skin.

In the middle stage, the fermentation is violent, and there are too many floating peels, and after this method fails, only physical methods can be used to press the skin. Directly with a heavy machine, these weights are pressed back into the wine. This is done by replacing the feet of the previous workers with clean weights.

According to Cameron, there is now a kind of fermentation tank with a net inside to prevent the peel from floating, but it is still necessary to pour the tank to mix the wine evenly, so as to avoid the extraction materials being concentrated in one layer and affecting the extraction effect.