Published September 08, 2009
Meet the Press
Like Boot Camp for Winemaking
Days like today, you're especially prone to reminiscing about your long-weekend revelry, and wishing there
was some way to recapture that revelry in a bottle.
And then sell that bottle…
Here to help:
A Day in the Life, a one-day boot camp for winemakers, led by Round Pond Estate's
head winemaker himself, open now for enrollment.
Your mission: you and a tiny group of fellow grunts will learn the daily routine that transforms a mere
grape into drinkable gold. Of course, this is the kind of boot camp that starts at a civilized hour with
coffee and pastries, which you'll down on a terrace while overlooking some of wine country's finest
vineyards.
Up next, you'll pick clusters of grapes off the vines, sort and leaf fruit on a conveyer belt, and then pump
down (wine talk for "stir") the juice and skins, all alongside winemaker Brian Brown and his crew. (If the
mood strikes, be sure to lend a hand to the petite recruit who caught your eye over coffee.) And as with any
good wine country experience, you'll taste your way through every step of the process, right down to the
finished, bottled product.
Finally, your oenological efforts will be rewarded with lunch of the mostly wet variety, where you'll sample
Round Pond's entire portfolio, including wines from the family's own stash—some of which you'll get to
take home.
Think of it as an honorable discharge.
VITALS
Round Pond Estate
886 Rutherford Rd
Rutherford, CA 94573
707-963-7555
official website