When the Crush Gets Real

I remember my first crush day seven years ago. It was a gorgeous sunny fall day as we prepped the equipment at the crush site. Once the truckful of grapes arrived, we got busy distributing the loot into crates of 50 lbs, making sure that everyone got what they ordered. We then moved like clockwork, running the grapes through the crusher-destemmer. It was backbreaking but satisfying work.

Crush Day 2016 - grapes heading home

Looking back, I wish every crush was like that. Call it the beginner’s luck, but I have since learned that crush days often don’t go that smoothly. Without the resources of a commercial winery, a typical crush event for hobby winemakers can be challenging and chaotic. Let me quash any romantic notion and share some of my experience.

It’s Not Always Sunny in Snoqualmie

The crush site for my winemaking club is conveniently located in Snoqualmie, close to the gateway between eastern and western Washington and also between the vineyards and the winemakers. We process our grapes in the open area outside the storage unit that contains the club’s winemaking equipment. There is no roof or canopy to protect us, the grapes, or the equipment from the elements. Unlike the weather on my first crush day, the more typical Pacific Northwest fall weather ranges from light drizzle to straight downpour and even hail.

Crush Day 2023 - processing grapes in the rain

The club rules are based on the principle that we are in this together. It means all the winemakers involved will work together to prep the equipment, weigh and distribute the grapes, process the berries, and finally clean up the sticky grape-y mess. Regardless of whether you ordered 100 lbs or 1,000 lbs of grapes, you’d stay for the four to five hours needed to crush the grapes. Now, imagine doing this in the cold and wet fall weather.

Not American Pickers

Grapes, like many agricultural products, are best picked early in the morning. Harvest is a busy period as vineyards coordinate pick dates while keeping in balance the optimal grape ripeness, the forecasted weather, and the available vineyard crew. It is a wonder how the stars were ever aligned to pull that off, but they did for the most part. Still it is easy to tip the balance and in the area that we often take for granted - migrant vineyard workers.

Harvest by Vindemia Winery on Unsplash

In the past several years, vineyards have been grappling with labor shortage, initially due to immigration crackdown and more recently the pandemic. As a result, grapes were sometimes picked past the prime hours, impacting the grape quality. For the club, this also means hours of delay on the same-day crush, extending grape processing into nightfall. This leads to the next set of challenges.

Noise, Lights, Action!

Using the outside of a storage unit to crush grapes is ideal for numerous reasons. You can retrieve and set up the necessary equipment quickly. When the crush and cleanup are done, the equipment are returned to storage, just feet away. All is well till you have to crush in the dark. The storage unit has no power outlet. The only source of light comes from a low voltage bulb that is operated by an analog timer, similar to the one you use to run your bathroom fan. 

Crush Day 2017 - crushing in the dark

Where one generator is used to fuel the crusher-destemmer in the day, a second is needed to power the heavy-duty flood lights at night. Even then, head lamps are donned to illuminate areas that are missed by the lights. More generators also means more noise to compete with while coordinating crush activities. 2017 crush day was by far the most challenging for that reason. We finally completed the crush close to midnight, exhausted but relieved.

Crushing, but Not Crushed

The anticipation of crush day is a mix of excitement and anxiety for me. Oftentimes it is not till a few days prior that the harvest and crush date is confirmed. And you pray - for good (enough) weather, for manageable amount of grapes to process, and for no delay. 

Crush day is not exactly the image of Lucille Ball stomping grapes in a wooden vat or grape fighting with the Italian winemaker. You do what must be done till all the grapes are processed - crushing, but not crushed. Once the grapes are home with me, that is when the real fun begins - pitching the yeast, punching down the cap, and guiding the fermentation process. I love all of that! 

Soon it will be time to press the grapes. While not quite the mess that crush day is, it is a feat in itself and a topic of another post. In the meantime, I shall enjoy the buzzing of the yeast transforming grape juice into wine.

The Mighty Midnight Crushers

It was dark, but thankfully the rain had stopped. Over a dozen hobby winemakers were waiting in the cold for the grapes. This year, it was particularly late because of a shortage of pickers, and we were several hours behind schedule.

Around 8pm, the truck rolled into the processing site. We cheered! Let the crush begin.

The Crush

The gang got to work immediately, trying to make up for lost time. We unloaded the grapes and carefully allocated about 4,000 lbs of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc into 50-lb totes. Organizing the allotment of grapes was challenging as lighting was inadequate and patience ran thin.

Then we ran into our first glitch - 150 lbs of Cab Sauv were missing.

Stephanie shoveling grapes

Chaos ensued. Not being able to account for the missing Cab Sauv, we decided that we could make up for the difference if we each gave up 4% of our grapes. Crisis averted. No one was going home without grapes.

An hour later, 100 lbs of grapes were found in a dark corner. A few of us tasted the grapes - definitely Cab Franc. How? Too tired to solve the mystery, we decided to re-distribute the grapes to those who were previously "taxed" 4% of the Cab Sauv. All's well that ends well.

Next, the second glitch at around 10pm - power outage.

With both crusher-destemmers running simultaneously, we must have tripped the circuit. We were crushing at a storage facility and had no access to the circuit breaker during these late hours. Our options were not looking good, and they probably included fighting raccoons over the grapes.

Thankfully, one of the winemakers lived close enough and was able to drag out his generator. Within an hour, we were back in business, crushing and de-stemming with all our might. The team remained in good spirits and were grateful that we were able to overcome each challenge. By the time we were done with the crush and clean-up, it was close to midnight.

Now, let me introduce you to our little co-op: The Mighty Midnight Crushers

The Genesis

We started planning in February. Four new hobby winemakers decided to join me to make our 2017 vintage. With only one vintage under my belt, I am hardly experienced. But thankfully, we have resources in the form of books, classes, more experienced winemakers, and access to really good grapes in Washington. More importantly, we are a group with the best attitude and eagerness to work together.

Grapes on staked vines

A month later, we placed an order for Red Mountain Cab Sauv from Artz Vineyards.

The Grapes

The first vintage I made was Yakima Valley Syrah, a forgiving varietal that is lovely even without oak. The Syrah was transformed with minimal intervention into a tasty fruit-forward wine within a year.

Cab Sauv however is a very different variety. Known for its small berry size and thick skin, Cab Sauv is favored for its tannins, which will need to be softened with oak. So I bought the smallest new French oak barrel I could find.



By end of August, the vineyards started sending out reports on the grapes. Forecasted harvest dates for different grape varieties were provided with varying degrees of accuracy, starting with white grapes followed by black and finishing with Cab Sauv and Cab Franc. The forecasted date for our Cab Sauv then was September 21.

The following month, the vineyards started running sugar (Brix) and acidity (pH and TA) tests on grape samples to determine ripeness. Still it was impossible to predict and plan our lives around the harvest date. September came and left, and Mother Nature continued to keep us guessing.

The Harvest

Our harvest date was finally set on Oct 17. We had less than a week to get ready. Two of our Mighty Midnight Crushers, Frank and Cindie, volunteered to drive to the Red Mountain AVA to collect our grapes as well as those ordered by other hobby winemakers.

Red Mountain AVA

How long the harvest may take typically depends on the weather and the availability of the pickers. Although the weather was lovely, there was a shortage of migrant workers this year. The vineyards owner herself joined her four workers to pick about 4,000 lbs of grapes that day.

It was late in the afternoon when the grapes were finally loaded onto the truck. Frank and Cindie had already been at the vineyards since that morning. They were glad to be on their way back to Western Washington. It was getting dark, and the winds were picking up. With a heavy load behind them, the drive navigating through the pass would take over three hours. They knew that they would be welcomed by over a dozen grateful winemakers waiting for the grapes in the cold. It would be dark, but hopefully the rain would have stopped.