Upon further reflection, it’s clear to me now that almost every post here could appropriately be titled “Why Wine is Expensive.” Managing a vineyard and winery, even on my ridiculously modest scale, presents a constant set of challenges, and this week was no exception.
Kim and I woke up this morning to discover that our basement had flooded overnight with my fermenting Chilean Chardonnay. I had two five-gallon carboys sitting on the laundry room counter, and one of them was suddenly half empty. I was too depressed to take photos, but believe me when I tell you that two-plus gallons of cloudy Chardonnay makes a large mess on the laundry room floor, particularly when it’s laundry day. As I cleaned the disaster, my mind was racing as to how this could have possibly happened, but in the end the answer became obvious - my newest carboy had a huge crack in it. How this carboy suddenly cracked and began leaking a week into the fermentation process, I really can’t explain, but at least I know how the wine got out of the carboy.
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| The remains of the 2011 Chilean Chardonnay. |
To her credit, Kim handled the disaster much calmer than I might have anticipated, particularly since she never signed up to have our laundry room double for a wine cave. In the end, I’m guessing I lost about a case of wine, or almost 1/3 of my production. It’s times like these that I remind myself that there are many wines available for purchase at various retail establishments throughout the city. But then, what would I have to blog about?
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