All work and no play...

Well we've been crushing everyday since the 8th of September, and we're about 77% percent complete with 585 tons processed so far this season out of an expected 760. That's a lot of long days, as Daniel has attested to in his postings, with the crew working 6 days and about 80 hours a week. The days are full of repetition, thousands of grapes going past eyeballs on the shaker table (your eyes just start to wiggle along with them after awhile), never ending early morning pump-overs and late nights cleaning the crush pit in the dark. With all this hard work and long days, the mood in the cellar tends to get a bit serious and solemn , so we like to mix it up a bit - enter Formal Day. If the office staff has casual Friday, shouldn't we have Formal Saturday? Yes it is goofy and silly, and just plain fun for everyone, the crew, the staff, and the tourists alike. This tradition goes back many years here at Montelena and is just the ticket as a mid-harvest mood breaker. Who knows, next weekend you might find us all in grass skirts and floral prints or ten-gallon hats and wranglers. You'll have to stop in to see, or at least check back for next week's blog. In the mean time, have a look at our Facebook page for more photos of our sharp dressed cellar crew in action.