Blog contributed by Blake DeBerry, Torr Na Lochs Vineyard & Winery; Past President and current Board Member Texas Wine Growers; Vice President Texas Hill Country Wineries Association
As Fall is upon us everyone in Texas is waiting for that first fresh cool day to get out and about. For those Texans who love wine nothing is more relaxing than visiting a winery and sitting on an outdoor patio in the pleasant weather overlooking the beautiful Texas Hill Country while sipping 100% Texas grown wine. As you are relaxing, and your mind is wandering have you ever thought; “the people that own this winery are living my dream and someday it’s going to me”. I can honestly say yes to that question. In February of 2011 my wife Karen and I traveled to Margaret River in Western Australia for a wine tour vacation to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary, and that is where the fateful words “we should build a vineyard and winery as a retirement project” were first uttered. Today we are just a few weeks past the ninth anniversary of the opening of Torr Na Lochs Vineyard & Winery (TNL). Karen was a recovering CPA who loves horticulture, and I was an Engineer working in the oilfield services business for about 40 years. Our wine growing and wine making knowledge was, well, zero, but our passion for wine was great. As we started our journey, we visited many Texas wineries, and many times got to meet the owners. When we mentioned we were considering starting a winery the almost unanimous response was don’t do it! Because that happened to me, I don’t respond that way when people ask me that, but it is fair to be clear what winery ownership is like. So, what is a day in the life of a winery owner like? The answer is, it depends on the time of year.
It is a Business
Owning a winery is not a hobby and if you believe it will be a glorious part time endeavor you may find yourself disappointed down the road. As a business producing an alcoholic beverage, wineries are subject to all sorts of government regulations. There are TTB reports to file with federal government, TABC reports to file with the state of Texas. Then there are other taxes like Payroll, Franchise, Property, and the list goes on. The ability of a winery to manage these required filings is totally dependent on how well they keep records. Furthermore, to understand if you are profitable and what your cash flow is, you must have a good accounting system and, more importantly, a good account or bookkeeper. All these things and more happen behind the scenes, thank goodness, but all are required to ensure the business is healthy. I am thankful that Karen has an accounting background and can handle all of these tasks.
Time to Prune
If you plan to have an Estate vineyard to go with your winery, then you will be outside working it in the cold of January and February. All the shoots from last year’s growth must be strategically removed to allow for new growth and fruit set in the correct location on the vines. We have three acres of vines that Karen and I plus Colby, our Assistant Winemaker, must prune each year. We work five days per week for 2-3 weeks to complete the pruning and set the vines up for success the coming year. Then, in March, we get bud break, and the shoots start to grow and the fruit sets; that’s when the real work starts. From May until we harvest in August, there are 5 or so people in the vineyard almost every day. Shoot positioning and tying, shoot and fruit thinning, shoot tipping, leaf pulling, and, once the fruit is getting ripe, putting on bird netting and tying it tight with about 10,000 bread ties. Don’t forget, this is Texas and its hot Y’all, so we are up and in the vineyard at 6:30 AM. I remember once coming out into the vineyard and Karen said, with sweat running down her face, “I made a poem while out here”. It went something like this: As I’m out in the blazing sun with sweat running down the crack of my … I think, how romantic it is to own a vineyard and winery!
Bottling Day
At TNL we try, and try is the operative word, to bottle in the period between finishing pruning and having to be in the vineyard to start shoot positioning, which is usually March and April. Regardless, everything must be in the bottle by the middle of July to ensure all our tanks are empty as we approach harvest and crush. For me, bottling is the most stressful activity we do because it is the culmination of years’ worth of work and waiting, particularly for red wines. The day before bottling, we will completely clean the bottling line and get ready for the big day to follow. We usually start the pre-bottling tasks around 8:00 AM and finish around 7:00 PM. On bottling day, I arrive at the winery at 5:00 AM and start the sterilization process on the bottling line which includes running steam through all elements of the bottling process from the filters onward. While the steaming is progressing, I set out all the glass, labels, closures, pallets, etc. that we will use for the day, and we are ready to go at 8:00AM. We usually bottle for 7-8 hours on any given day and bottle twice a week for three or four weeks. At the end of the bottling day, I clean the bottling line again, which takes about two hours making my day 13 hours if all went well (bottling lines are notorious for break downs, but we talk about that later).
Harvest and Crush
The Estate harvest usually happens about two to three weeks after the bird nets are installed, so within a very short time of putting the nets on it is time to take them off! The day before harvest, we arrive at 6:30 to beat the heat, and remove all the bread ties that are holding the nets tight (remember there are 10,000 of them). During the rest of the day, we clean the tanks, processing equipment, and picking bins. Then, about two hours before dusk, we remove the bird nets to minimize the time that the birds will be tempted to have a feast. On harvest day we arrive at 5:00 AM to stage all the buckets, bins, drinks, food etc. and at 6:30 AM, with the help of about 30 volunteers, we pick the fruit by hand. This process usually takes about four hours, and we celebrate with food, a grape stomp, and, of course, wine. The completion of the Estate harvest is one of the most rewarding days because the months of long hard work has ended. Later that day the fruit is destemmed, crushed, and put into the fermenting tank to be cooled down prior to start of fermentation. Then, all of the equipment used in the crush is cleaned. Needless to say, it is a very long day indeed. The following day the fruit will be inoculated with the desired yeast and for the next 10 days or so we will pump over the must twice a day until fermentation is complete. This period, called the crush, is a seven day a week job and continues until all fruit has been received and fermented, and lasts from August to October. One of the challenges during crush is managing our tank space. The fruit is harvested when it is ready and not when we are ready. This year, our Estate harvest was later due to more rain late in the season, but our fruit in the High Plains was early due to a dry year. We have 15 total tanks at TNL and at one point we were doing 11 fermentations simultaneously and rapidly working to get some wine in barrels to create tank space for incoming fruit. We named this year’s crush “fast and furious”, and I was very happy to have both Colby and Bobby helping out.
Cellar Work
As the fermentation is coming to a close the wine is racked (moved) to allow the solids (pulp, yeast, etc.) to be removed from the wine. Preparation for racking is much like that of harvest. We must clean tanks, pumps, and hoses before starting (never underestimate the amount of cleaning you will do in winemaking). At TNL we process the current year’s fruit while the prior year’s red wines are still in barrels. So, at this time we play a game of “Wack-a-Mole” by pulling out a prior year’s wine from the barrel room and racking that to the one tank remaining empty. Then, we clean those barrels, add in some new barrels, and rack a current vintage into barrels and plac them in the barrel room. That process empties a tank which then allow the process to repeat itself. The good news here is we are not under as much time pressure, so we do this in a much more relaxed manner working normal hours. Once barreling is complete, it will soon be time to start the entire process over again at the pruning stage in a couple of months. Therefore, this is where you get to take a vacation if you so desire!
Oh, the F’ing (fill in the blank) is Broken
Prior to owning a winery, I was the CEO of the company I had worked at for over 33 years. When I retired, Karen graciously told me she was allowing me to retain my CEO title. I was honored, until she followed that up with, “now let’s define your duties. As CEO you are in charge of Cleaning, Electrical, and Other”. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that fixing things was going to take a major amount of my time as a winery owner. If you are not handy, hire someone who is. While all the other activities we have discussed happen at regular times of the year, this particular activity is happening all year long and most likely when you can least afford the breakdown. For example, we were having an evening dinner event for our wine club members. Our staff was busily getting everything switched over from normal tasting room operations to the dinner. We finished just as the first guest started to arrive and Karen and I were out front greeting our valued guests. Suddenly, one of our staff comes to me quickly and says, “I need you in the Barrel Room”. I entered the barrel room to see water pouring through the ceiling. I feel and smell the water and quickly know it is glycol water from our chiller. We’ve sprung a leak at the least desirable time. I run upstairs into the attic space, find the leak, and shut of valves to isolate that piece of equipment, go downstairs, close the barrel room door, and say deal with that later. Then, like nothing has happened put a smile on my face and return to greeting our guests. However, after the event was over, at 10:00 in the evening, I return to the barrel room with mop and bucket in hand to clean up the mess which includes hosing down the floor. I am also convinced that my water chillers know when I am on vacation. Every time I am away it seems like the chillers break down, so I have a spare chiller and can walk Colby through how to get all the valves crossed over and back up and running. I cannot emphasize the importance of understanding your various systems and keeping spare parts on hand. Furthermore, develop good relationships with your vendors that can fix the various things you cannot. Plumber, A/C, and electrician to name a few. It has taken us several years to find and develop these relationships, but once we found them, we pay their invoices on the day we receive them. We do this because when we are in a bind, and I call them for help they will come right away, and you cannot put a price on that.
There is Still Lots to Do
You may note that I did not talk of hospitality, sales, marketing, etc. That’s because these are not cyclical activities, and by that, I mean they go on every single day. As a winery owner you are selling and marketing every single day, and you can never forget that. As an example, Karen’s truck license plate is TNL WINE. When she first got that we thought it was a neat novelty, but then quickly realized we better drive nicely because you never know who is around, but they now know you. Furthermore, no matter what is happening behind the scenes you must enter the tasting room with a smile on your face. We recently met a new tasting room guest and struck up a conversation which quickly turned into, what felt like, an interview. The first question asked of us was “what is your favorite part of winery ownership?”. We were both standing there, and I let Karen go first because I was curious to learn her answer. Well, it turns out our answer to that question was exactly the same. It is meeting and engaging with our guests. We have learned that, without fail, when we meet someone new, within 30 minutes of talking to them, we have some person, place, or experience in common. It truly is a small world. So, as you visit a winery this fall and sit out on the patio enjoying the weather, view, and wine it’s okay to think to yourself “it must be romantic to own a winery”. Just know that while it is not always so, sometimes, just sometimes it is.
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