Pallette Stacks

These are pallettes that allow a fork lift to move two full barrels of wine at a time.

Michael Browne

Then assistant winemaker Michael Browne hard at work in the caves.

What A View!

The Kunde vineyard lies across Highway 12 from Deerfield.

Me

In the cave's Grand Room.

Closing Time

This beautiful picture of me closing the cave was taken by photographer Jenny Heath.

Composite Of The Barn

This cool composite was also put together by Jenny Heath.

Bottling

The finished wines go through the bottling line.

Assembly Line

Foiler

This part of the process tightens the foil on the neck of the bottle.

Almost Done

The Cave

Barrels line everywall of the caves at Deerfield.

The Grand Room

The Grand Room as it appeared in 2006. Today it is furnished and open daily for wine tasting!

End Of The Line

At the end of the bottling line the bottles are packed into cases and ready to be shipped.

Cases

Cases of Deerfield wine. These cases might end up all over the world!

Corks!

Bottles move along the line...

The Press

Squished grapes sit beside our state-of-the-art wine press.

Towers Of Grapes

The crush pad can become quite hectic on days like these when a mountain of grapes arrive.

Grapes!

Fruit awaits the sorting table and the beginning of it's long jouney at the winery.

Forklifts Are King

Any Cellar Rat worth his salt is a deft operator of the forklift, which is a necassary tool to move tons of fruit.

Loading The Hopper

A forklift dumps the grapes into a hopper which funnels them onto the sorting table.

Deerfield Vines

Already Deerfields new vines are coming into maturity. These grapes, however, won't be used in production until next year.

Cellar Rat Attire

Cleaning the press usually requires getting soaking wet. This waterproof slicker only helps slightly.

A Job Well Done

Sugarloaf

At the end of the day I admire Sugarloaf mountain across the valley.

The Barn

The main entrance to the Barn.

More Grapes!

Beautiful Merlot grapes have arrived from the vineyard!

De-stemmed!

This is what the bins of grapes look like after the grapes have gone through the destemmer.

The Sorting Table

All of the grapes are hand sorted and only the finest chosen to produce the high standard that Deerfield wines require.

Crush Pad

This is a great view of the crush pad on a typical harvest day.

Dry Ice

Dry ice is sometimes used to keep harmful oxygen away from the juice while it waits to be sealed in a fermentation tank of barrel.

A Keen Eye

Keen eyes and deft hands are what it takes to work at the sorting table.

The Sorter

Here I am making sure no sour grapes get into a single bottle of Deerfield.

Pump-Over

One technique in wine-making is called the pump-over, where wine from the bottom of the tank is pumped over the top of the grape skins floating on the surface.

Punch-Down

Alternatively, Cellar Rats like myself use a long pole to re-submerge the floating grapes, called the "Cap".

Hard Work

In the large tanks, the cap can become several feet thick and it can be very difficult to punch through.

Starting To Crack

I'm making some headway now on this tank.

All Done

A tank after a punch-down is complete. This needs to be done several times a day.

Racking

The wine is being switched to different barrels in a process known as racking.

Inside A Tank

Claustophobia isn't a good trait for a Cellar Rat to possess as crawling into confined spaces is often a daily chore.

Small Lots

A punch down on a small lot is being performed. It's these small lots that allow Deerfield to craft such fine wine.

Pro Forklifter

Like I said earlier: A good Cellar Rat is a good forklift operator.