In this moment of winemaking season, my mind is occupied by choosing the exact date, aligning my crew, grape ordering, finances, and delivery of grapes.

You may remember the mail box incident which was hair-raising but resolved very quickly. What I haven’t spoken about is Joe. Joe was a delivery guy for Musto Wine Grape Company until he struck out on his own. Frank Musto still sent him to us with deliveries from time to time. Joe was more than a delivery guy to me. He was like an old friend that visits once a year.

When the grapes come, they come on pallets of like grape varietals. My best guess is the pallets hold about 1000 pounds each. When Joe gets here he starts to unload them. Prior to the deliver everything is arranged in the garage to allow for crush space and just enough space for the pallets of grapes.

The grapes have to be reachable when we are crushing a particular batch and it takes coordinating which tubs will be crushed first and where they will remain during fermentation. This means moving the pallets around when delivered so that they are in the right place during crush. Joe does all this with me in an extremely patient way.

Once, Joe arrived much earlier than I’d expected. I heard the truck and jumped out of bed. With a few expletives, I got dressed and ran to the door. Joe was able to ascertain that I wasn’t ready and told me to relax and get my coffee. In the end this was probably better for Joe. He also saw that my shoe was untied and tied it for me … telling me that I would fall if I wasn’t careful. This is the kind of sweetness that Joe brought along with the grapes.

Once everything was arranged in the garage I would bid Joe good-bye and we would wish each other a good year. This is just a snippet of an evolving process but, it’s the small memories that build the overall story.

Cheers!