A Harvest Reflection

By Jamie Rubin (Harvest Intern 2020)

When you work in the wine industry, your life exists in rhythm with the cycle of the vines and customers. All too often, we become so consumed with our own mindset of the season, and the connections with those who experience life the same way we do, we fail to realize not everyone has the same perspective. 

Each year interns arrive at Red Newt Cellars from a diverse set of backgrounds looking to experience the rush of harvest. The interns return home at Thanksgiving, the majority of harvest complete, and only the sounds of bubblers remain to remind us that harvest is only partially complete. Seeing this year’s harvest through intern Jamie Rubin’s eyes gives us the opportunity to share with you some of what is experienced during a harvest. We hope you enjoy his A FLX Story. We will  post all five segments separately to stay tuned each day for another installment.

By Jamie Rubin

Part I: October 25

First of all, simply being in upstate New York during the fall is amazing! The colors are changing slowly this year, quite possibly due to drought conditions. This is making very day’s drive into work a complete sensory joy ride. Some areas have bare trees, some are just yellowing, some are fire orange and red, and there are still some places totally green!

We recently picked Gruner Veltliner from Lahoma Vineyards, which is situated on the other side of Seneca Lake from the winery. We were able to do a three day cold soak on it before pressing it off! This wouldn’t have been possible in a normal year simply due to the volume of fruit arriving at the winery. This is destined to become a new SKU in the Kelby James Russell (winemaker at Red Newt) line of wines and I can’t wait to taste the finished product. The fruit was gorgeous!

As for myself, I’m adjusting to being the least knowledgeable person in the room at any given time. It’s definitely a challenge after running four restaurants and always being the guy with the answers. Now, I find myself being given what sounds like basic instructions only to need to ask two or three follow-up questions to make sure I don’t f*ck anything up. That’s a really long of way of saying that I’m being humbled daily and I can’t wait to have the opportunity to learn more!