The warm days of summer might be over but it’s the middle of grape harvest and for wine lovers that means the chance to go back to camp. Some local wineries offer harvest immersions also known as “Crush Camps” which are half day stints to several day excursions offering hands on winemaking. The serious wine camper might start very early in the morning to pick grapes alongside day laborers who have been working since 2 am. If you are not that committed, you can start the process, as I did, once the fruit has arrived at the winery. I went to "day camp" at Crushpad in Sonoma, a custom crush facility where I have been making wine for nearly a year. My first task was to remove leaves, rocks and bad grapes from freshly picked Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir clusters. A conveyer belt then dropped the grapes into a giant destemmer. I am afraid I let a few unwanted items go by in my effort to learn the task.

Nearby the destemmer, red grapes were fermenting in open plastic bins. I had heard the term, "punch down," but never knew exactly what it meant. Well, nothing like actually doing a task to get a first hand understanding. A punch down is where you punch the cap of a fermenting batch of grapes to pull the color and flavors out, move yeasts back down into the wine must, and prevent potential bacteria from growing on the exposed top layer. These grapes had already sat in a cold soak for four to five days, a process where winemakers gauge sugar and future alcohol levels. After the cold room, the white grapes head to a big press and are crushed into juice before fermentation. Red grapes are a little more complicated. To put it simply, they are first fermented with the skins on then pressed and the juice goes through a secondary fermentation before going into barrels to age.

My fellow campers, about half a dozen, and I were constantly washing our hands. Turns out the inside of a winery needs to be about as sterile as a hospital. Pesky yeasts will attach to your hands, clothes and other instruments and you don’t want those yeasts getting into a different wine batch with a different formula.

Before I could even break into a sweat, Crushpad’s Stu Ake, who was a great camp counselor, took us on a tour of the rest of the wine making process. This included several levels of fermentation, aging and barrel tasting. We tasted a Napa Valley Zinfandel from Howell Mountain that, I was told, needed six more months of aging. It was bursting with tannins.

I did a half day crush camp but if you want to check out one for yourself, consider that many wineries offer their wine club members harvest experiences. Meantime, here are a few suggestions from day camps to expensive, fantasy crush camps. If you have a recommendation, let us know!

• Sterling Vineyards
• Crushpad
• St Supery Harvest Experience
• Schramsberg -- A multi-day, hands on, sparkling wine immersion.
• Sonoma County Grape Camp -- A fantasy grape camp. Several wineries get together and participate in a three day, high end, harvest immersion.

And I leave you with this, what I thought of the entire day at crush camp:

From its San Francisco garagista roots to its new spot on the big stage in Sonoma, Crushpad is on the way to becoming a Hewlett Packard success story for the wine industry. The custom crush operation, which was founded seven years ago in a Bay Area garage, just moved into its latest digs: The historic Sebastiani Winery near downtown Sonoma. The story behind how Crushpad got there may be just as interesting as the community winery’s plans for its new production space and experiential wine tasting bar.

The Crushpad story

In 2002 Michael Brill, then a Silicon Valley software engineer, tore up his backyard in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco and planted Pinot Noir grapes. By the 2003 harvest, Brill was making wine out of his tiny garage with the help of several volunteer neighbors. The urbanite enthusiasm to make wine and Brill’s difficulty holding down what had become a second job led him to launch Crushpad. One of the first custom crush facilities for hobbyists and small scale labels, it took off. Crushpad is now in Bordeaux and exploring Asia. Brill made a decision early on to source fruit from some of the best vineyards in California. This meant his model would be small lot, high-end wines. The minimum order is a barrel, which ranges in price from six thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars, depending on the type of fruit.

While Japanese pop stars and Hollywood film directors are among the clientele, public media producers, like myself, can get in on a Share A Barrel program which matches up ten folks for one barrel. When we bottle next month, I’ll get six cases of low oak Chardonnay from the Santa Lucia Highlands for which I had a Crushpad artist help me design my wine label. I also get to attend crush, blending and tasting sessions and other events. I harbor no fantasies of making money from wine making, it’s an expensive business. Still, about half of Crushpad’s clientele are commerce clients who pay for support in seeking licensing, promoting and selling their wines.

Crushpad client wine. Photo credit: Crushpad

Since it’s urban beginnings, Crushpad has offered Crushnet, an online winemaking support service.

“You can be sitting on your sofa in Shanghai drinking a glass of Bordeaux and see all the stats on your wine in Sonoma and when the time comes to do a final blend on your wine you can request barrel samples be shipped to you. The client can literally sit at their dining room table and meet with the winemaker over the phone, or Skype, and come up with the final blend,” says Mark Marinozzi, Vice President of Marketing for Crushpad.

The idea of buying grapes from a vineyard and paying a custom crush winery to make them into wine is nothing new. In fact, the high cost of land in places like Napa is what helped give custom crush facilities their start. During the recession larger companies like Bin to Bottle, Owl Ridge Services and Napa Wine Company benefited from growers with unsold grapes. But smaller custom crush places that serve hobbyists and small commercial labels, like Crushpad, saw their non-commerce clients dip. But now they are seeing an uptick and just this week an indy custom crush facility called DogPatch WineWorks launched in Crushpad’s home haunt. While this might be good news for DIY vinophiles, who miss making wine in the city, there is some controversy fermenting. The folks behind WineWorks include a former Crushpad staff member and investor unhappy with the company’s move to the wine country.

Surviving the downturn

It can be hard to turn a profit when you are a custom crush facility sourcing expensive fruit and every member has a vote in how their wine is made. But the company’s high end, small lot production model may have helped them survive the recent recession. Marinozzi explains,

"A lot of the luxury brands that were in the 50,000 case range were very reliant on restaurants, bars and national chain accounts -- then the recession hit and they had to start discounting. You see brands go from $35.00 to $18.99. They were built up as a luxury player and now they are in Safeway."

Online flash sales and discount sites have become commonplace as wineries try to reduce idle inventory. Marinozzi says cutting deals and degrading brand image has had a downward effect on the marketplace.

"Your Fleur de Lys and French Laundrys were not going to keep wine on their list that you could find in a grocery store. So the opportunity for the ultra small lot winemaker is right there to fill the void that was created by this downturn so a lot of Crushpad’s clients took advantage of that."

Outside Crushpad's new tasting room. Photo Credit: Crushpad

New Home

Just like any other Bay Area renter, Crushpad has had to move a lot. The company, which started in Brill’s garage, moved to a warehouse in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood then, again, to a larger space in the city and then to Napa to rent space from the Silverado Trail Wine Studios. The latest move to Sonoma is the one that Marinozzi says makes all the difference.

"Sebastiani is a world class operation. It's a campus with flexibility between doing small lot production and large production and we can build up and really make it our own."

Crushpad's barrel room. Photo Credit: Crushpad

Crushpad will exist side by side with the Sebastiani winery which is owned by Foley Family Wines. Bill Foley, now a principal investor in Crushpad, has created more space at Sebastiani after decreasing its production to focus on high-end wines. The financing deal gives Crushpad more than five thousand feet of production space plus office space, a VIP area for commerce clients and a tasting bar that will feature Crushpad client wines. You can get an idea of the new visitors center from this rough, artist rendering:

The Exploratorium of the Wine Industry

Crushpad will continue to offer wine blending and sensory analysis classes. But the new addition for consumers will be interactive multimedia stations in the wine tasting room. Visitors will be able to use prepaid cards to operate self-pouring dispensers that allow then to taste along to a number of videos showing all the elements of winemaking.

"For example, you might watch one on the vineyards of the Sonoma coast and cool climate winemaking while trying four different wines under different weather conditions. There will be this opportunity to experience the Exploratorium of the wine industry through the experience stations or take it a step higher and get involved in a class." says Marinozzi.

Crushpad's new tasting bar and visitor center will open this fall.

Related Links:
Website: Crushpad
Twitter: @crushpad
Facebook: Crushpad
Flickr: crushpadwine
YouTube: Crushpad video channel
Location: Map

You gotta love a free event and this weekend there are no fewer than three good ones. Each present an opportunity for you to reacquaint yourself with a San Francisco original.

Crushpad is do-it-yourself (with a lot of help) winery. Designed for non-traditional winemakers you work hand-in-hand with Crushpad staff and consulting winemakers to define and create your very own wine. You can choose from among their excellent grape sources or identify your own. The end result is a world class wine with your own brand. Custom Wine customers are encouraged to visit Crushpad frequently and actively participate to gain the full experience – education is a key part of Crushpad.

Cost varies depending upon vineyard with most barrels (25 cases) ranging from $5700 to $10,900 ($36/bottle).

What: Crushpad Open House
Where: 2573 Third St, San Francisco
When: 2 - 6 pm Saturday, June 21, 2008
How: RSVP to attend
Why: This is a fantastic opportunity to meet with participating winemakers, explore the spectrum of wines made at Crushpad and start planning for the 2008 harvest. You can also taste the wines, nibble on cheese and chocolate and perhaps even a taco or two.

If you haven't been to Ghirardelli Square in a while, now is a great time to check out this historic spot. Celebrate the new spirit of Ghirardelli Square with entertainment, wine tasting, chocolate, cupcakes and shopping. Enjoy eco-friendly chef demonstrations by From the Garden to the Table and even a doggie fashion show.

What: Savour the Square
Where: 900 North Point St St, San Francisco
When: 12 - 6 pm Saturday & Sunday, June 21 & 22, 2008
Why: Food and wine tasting, chef demos, classes and free Ice Cream Sundaes from Ghirardelli Chocolate from 4-5 pm both Saturday and Sunday. Check out the full schedule before you go.

Cheese Plus is a great spot to find local and artisanal gourmet products. At the Summer Solstice Food Festival more than 20 local Bay Area artisan food vendors will sample their handmade foods throughout the day.

This year's line up includes: Paul Bertolli’s delicious sausages and salami from Fra'Mani, LaLoo's Legendary Goat Milk Ice Cream, Bellwether Farms Farmstead Sheep Cheese, Allison McQuade's tasty Chutney’s, Redwood Hill Sonoma Goat Cheese, and more

What: Cheese Plus 3rd Anniversary Summer Solstice Food Festival
Where: 2001 Polk St St, San Francisco
When: 11 am - 6 pm Saturday, June 21, 2008
Why: Meet directly with the artisanal producers and enjoy samples of fine foods of the Bay Area and beyond.

Lest you think this is an odd title for a food and wine blog, I'm here to tell you a story and bring meaning to its significance.

Once upon a time (well, back in 2002), a guy named Jared and a girl named Tracey decided to quit their day jobs and travel to France to learn how to make wine. For a year the two worked between the Rhone Valley and Burgundy for renowned French winemaker Eric Texier. Each day brought a new adventure: learning about elevage, becoming familiar with winery operations, and living through a very rainy harvest.

Every day Tracey and Jared walked past a field where there lived a donkey and a goat. Thinking it rather odd, the pair began to notice similar couplings throughout the countryside. So they decided to ask a local. They found out that donkeys are used in France to eat the weeds in the vineyards, without disrupting the delicate vines. But they are moody and difficult. Goats, apparently a happy-go-lucky type, like to hang out with donkeys and keep them company. A vineyard pairing made in heaven.

So where am I going with this? In 2003, Jared and Tracey returned to San Francisco, determined to start their own winery. And what did they decide to call it? A Donkey and Goat.

Starting out in the basement of a friend's house in Potrero Hill (a friend who just so happens to now be the owner of Crushpad), the couple made two Syrahs and a Chardonnay. They also spent the year researching and meeting with growers throughout California. Shortly thereafter, they moved their operations to Crushpad, where Tracey also works as the Director of Sales and Marketing. You can read all the details on their website, but essentially Crushpad is an urban winery (actually, located right across from KQED!) where you can make custom wines, with as much or as little participation as you want. It's cool.

Currently, with their 2004 vintage, Jared and Tracey have 17 barrels from 4 vineyards: Carson Ridge, Brosseau, McDowell Valley, and Vidmar. These include Syrah, Chardonnay, and a rose. Which is where I come in.

A few months ago Jared and Tracey were kind enough to send over 2 bottles of their rose wine, a 2004 Grenache Gris (named Isabel's Cuvee, after their daughter), to our BAB Springfeast. (Um, we still haven't blogged about that, but it's hopefully coming soon.) Anyway, we chilled the wine and after wrestling with the thick wax seal (which looks really cool but isn't user friendly, a fact that Jared readily admits and explained later that it was a last-resort to seal the bottles and that they wouldn't be doing it again), we were all delightfully surprised by the dark color of the rose. The rose proved to be full-bodied, fruity, and yet still a bit tart and dry. The perfect compliment to most foods, from fish to poultry to pork.

We were so intrigued that we set up a barrel tasting at Crushpad so that we might try the other wines that the duo is producing. Jared was the perfect host (unfortunately Tracey couldn't make it): explaining their winemaking philosophy; their goals, preferences, and differences in making wine (such as picking into small bins so as not to damage the grapes, fermenting reds and whites in wood, and natural fermentation); using ver jus to balance their wines; his passion for the technical side of winemaking (ie being in the lab); and Crushpad's model.

First we tasted three different Syrahs from Carson Ridge, one that had Viognier added and two without. We all decided the Syrah with the Viognier was our favorite from that particular vineyard. Next, we moved on to their Vidmar Vineyard Syrahs. We tasted two barrels, one called 877 which Jared described as more feminine, and another, the Estrella River, which he described as more masculine. Wendy and I preferred the Estrella, which was richer, fuller, and spicier than the 877, Jared's preference. The last Syrah that we tasted was the McDowell Valley Old Vine. It was intense and seemed like it had a lot of potential.

Before I move on to the whites, if you have never been barrel tasting, I highly recommend it. This was my second opportunity (the first being at Peter Michael a few years back when a close friend worked there). You not only learn about the process of winemaking, but the nuances of aging wine and all that goes into its creation.

We finished with two Chardonnays. The first was still finishing fermentation, so it was very young and not terribly drinkable. The other was made with added verjus. It was crisp, minerally, and really delicious. I have to admit, I'm not a huge Chardonnay fan, at least not the overly oaky, buttery California Chards. I prefer the leaner French-style whites, and that is what Jared and Tracey also look for in a Chard. I'll definitely order a few bottles of these!

All in all, we learned a lot, drank a lot, and had a great time doing it. Keep your eyes out for this young winery; Tracey and Jared are not only knowledgeable and passionate about what they are doing, but they are already producing some fantastic wines.

Photos by Wendy Goodfriend