Today we’ll be looking at the introduction of my new series on how to make red wine. Please join me on my journey to the other side of the world – Napa Valley California – where I spent 4 months making red wine after my adventures in the Desert.
In the next 2 months you’ll need to hold onto your socks because BLANKbottle is going through some serious upgrades. Next week I will invite you to have a look at my new website. I am bottling 4 new wines and have a bucket full of surprises on top of that to come. For now, we are onto the last pallet of the Alliance Cab/Shiraz 2006 and the Moment of Silence 2007, so if you’re a fan, go to the website and order or send me an e-mail.
BLANKbottle Newsletter: Since November 2004
To put everything into perspective: Whilst I had a lot of fun frolicking around in the shallow waters of Cap Clasique in the basement of the winery in the dessert, I still missed surfing and decided to put my priorities in place as any man should. I decided to find a job closer to the beach. I logged onto the internet and searched for a world map. That’s when my eye caught California and I thought: Yes! Travelling, surfing, wine experience and dollars – it made perfect sense.
In the months to follow, I secured a position as cellarhand at Cakebread Cellars in the Napa Valley through a placement agency and booked a ticket to fly from Cape Town to San Francisco. Well, actually, not exactly Cape Town – San Francisco! It read: CPT – Brussels – San Fran – Los Angeles – Seattle – Orlando – New York – Brussels – Cape Town! Now I’m still not sure if it was faith or stupidity but my thought pattern went as follows: I have to spend all my savings in order to get to the USA, but if I work for 4 months, I might be able to afford a nice holiday which would include surfing all the breaks between San Francisco and San Diego, doing a quick ski trip to Whistler, spending one week in Disneyworld and checking out the scene in New York.
So, with just a few dollars in my pocket and an eagerness to work, I arrived in San Francisco in June 1999. I’d like to tell you about how I ended up doing nightshift and being in charge of the red wine cellar, but more about that next month. For now, you can have a look at the winery – www.cakebread.com.