After fermentation is complete, cellar crew members must take on the feat of scooping tons of grape skins out of our wine tanks. With the proper gear and some muscle, our hardworking crew gets down and dirty. Every year there is a fierce and friendly competition between the crew to get on the leaderboard for the most tons shoveled. To add to the fun, our Head Winemaker, Dan Cederquist, adds a silver plaque with the winner’s name to a shiny silver shovel that hangs all year in the winery office. This year, the winner was also the recipient of a custom made silver shovel t-shirt.
Our 2020 winner was J.P. Bermudez, coming in at 486.1 tons!
“J.P. was an incredible force this year, jumping into nearly all the tanks in the first 5 weeks. He was the clear leader from the beginning and had such a commanding lead that at the end. When he was called back to run the bottling line there was nobody close to catching him. J.P. ended up with 486.1 tons.” – Dan Cederquist
Also, recognized for his efforts for the 2019 year, was Adan Gallo who received a custom t-shirt to show off his bragging rights. But he didn’t let that silver shovel go easily …
“2019 was a huge year for us with over 2200 tons of reds fermentation. Adan dug out a record 498.7 tons nearly breaking the 500-ton mark. These 2 guys are some of the hardest working crew that I’ve ever seen. Hats off to them both!”- Dan Cederquist, Head Winemaker
Cheers to both J.P. and Adan, we’re proud to have you as part of our team!