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June 2016 WINES&VINES 33 WINEMAKING Benson. "We refer to our Vintrace database for types of yeast used, dosage rates, total amounts of cellar and fermentation products, etc., used for any particular vintage." 2 Equipment preparation: The Groth team understands that every piece of equipment must be ready for harvest, but that doesn't mean they do the actual work themselves. Their core competency is making great wine, not replacing press bladders. Some servicing they do themselves, but more techni- cally complex items like presses and refrigera- tion systems are handled by experts. a. Fruit handling: Groth staff will lube and tighten the shaker table and the sorting belts. Immediately after harvest, their Pellenc grape sorter is thoroughly broken down, followed by detailed cleaning, lubrication, small parts replacement, belts and rollers. Spare parts to replace those likely to break are kept on hand. b. Presses: Groth has two Diemme presses that Collopack thoroughly services annu- ally. They check chains, motors, sole- noids, door seals, and pneumatics, and they replace worn parts or bladders if needed. Their pre-harvest service request is made in early March. Groth also does a pre-harvest test on the float switches that reside in the press must pans, as a faulty float switch can cause a huge loss of juice or added juice aeration. c. Pumps: Groth services their pumps in-house, performing oil changes and replacing worn parts. All seals on posi- tive displacement pumps are replaced with new seals as a matter of pre-har- vest preventative maintenance. Since the winery uses cable remotes to regu- late pump speed, those too are checked for proper operation. Groth keeps many pump spare parts on hand. d. Forklifts: Toyota Material Handling ser- vices quarterly the two electric lifts that Groth owns and rents them two propane lifts with bin dumpers for harvest. Renting frees up capital for other needs. e. Refrigeration: Another area trusted en- tirely to the experts. Lewis Mechanical Services has a service contract and does a major system check prior to harvest. f. Other items: Groth will test their lees filters prior to crush. 3 Barrels: Ordering for early August de- livery leaves cellar staff with time to prep, log 700 new barrels into Vintrace, apply barcodes and perform leak testing. The leak test entails putting 5 gallons of hot water in a barrel, setting the barrel on one head for one hour, then flipping it onto the other head for one hour. The barrel "passes" the leak test if it shows a partial vacuum seal after this time. 4 Winemaking supplies: Groth has no long lead time items, and the winery generally orders all processing aids, yeast and fruit acids around three weeks prior to harvest. They will sometimes make use of a vendor's "early bird" discounts. 5 Staffing: Groth brings in four interns each year, starting the hiring process in March. Interns start two to four weeks prior to harvest, so there is sufficient time for safety training (respirator use, chemical use, confined space entry, etc.) and job training. Fidel notes that as wine production in- creased, collecting and spreading pomace got to be a big job. Now a local waste-disposal company manages pomace removal, leaving a 20-yard dumpster for pomace and organic waste composting. Finally, he reminds us that regardless of planning, "We always forget some- thing, but a lot less frequently." Turning the equipment on at Herzog Wine Cellars Joe Hurliman is the winemaker for Herzog Wine Cellars in Ventura, Calif., making wines under the Herzog, Baron Herzog, Jeunesse and Wein- stock labels. He has 30 years of experience in the wine industry—18 of those years at Herzog.