Saying Goodbye to the Winery Dog

It was a brisk day in December. Half of the winery crew was out volunteering at local community charities for the holidays, a few of us remained at homebase to bid fairwell to an old friend. The good old boy was a part of the winery for almost 16 years. A big cheerful guy, who even when in pain at the end, still managed to wag his tail and make sure everybody else around him was happy. After we said our goodbyes, a caravan of vehicles, company and personal, made their way up into the hills overlooking fields of trees and vineyards. Here we laid our old friend to rest under a huge oak tree, next to several other dear old friends. There was not a dry eye in the house as 16 of us said our words of fairwell and shed tears of sorrow at having lost, and tears of joy at having been privileged to know him. A dog's life is never long enough for those that love them, but they are full of joy and a carefree selflessness that we humans will never know.

Dessert wine and pasta?!

It was nearing the end of the day when a couple in their late 20's maybe early 30's came in. They tasted through our flight which consists of a lot of big bold reds, and not liking any of them, and mentioning that they were looking for something to go with pasta, I had them taste the few white wines that we produce. Not liking any of those, they tried our dessert wines last and finally decided on an orange muscat to go with their chicken alfredo. I guess everybody has their own preferences, or has to start learning about wines sometime. Craziest wine pairing I have ever heard of though...

Too much whine goes with too much wine

Well, even winery workers drink too much wine now and again. Mostly when we get done being around the wine scene all day, we just go out for a beer. Unfortunately, in this business eventually we are all forced to work with wine all day when we are hungover off of it. There is even a company record for trips to the porcelain throne. It was a warmish winter day when my number was up to try and beat the company record. I am still fuzzy on what the exact number is for the record, but I heard somewhere in the 20s, I will have to set this straight on a later date when the record holder happens to be in. The next runner up is at 17 and I am giving him a run for his money at 15 today. We'll see how the rest of the day pans out. Needless to say, I will not be drinking wine for a bit, and hopefully for the sake of my poor co-workers that will also lessen the whining.