shoot a photo essay on small-scale winemaking

The Pinot arrived later than expected on Saturday and conflicted with social plans, so tonight became my first shoot of the project. It was a cool one. To maximize skin exposure for color extraction while the juice is relatively watery, Matt is slowing down the fermentation by cooling the must with dry ice. This lead to all kinds of nifty effects, from clouds of CO2 drifting over the cap to violent, boil-like bubbling once the ice was fully submerged. It was difficult to turn these fireworks into successful photographs, but it was great to watch in person.

One thing I hadn’t considered before tonight was that Matt might be camera shy, which could’ve undermined this whole series. But it seems he’s not at all. So while the shoot was a failure photographically, I’m excited to have started on the project.

I think this project should span a few years so I can track at least one vintage the whole way from vine to cellar. It kicks off Saturday when Pinot Noir arrives from Oregon. I’m pretty excited, as this is my first personal photo project. I’m not sure if I’ll stick to a single format for the whole series, but for now I’ve decided to go with color because winemaking is colorful, and digital because digital is free.

Ack. I dropped a mail to my semi-pro vintner friend yesterday and discovered that he’s driving to a few vineyards in Eastern Washington as of Monday to assess the harvest, and that his first Pinot grapes arrive from Oregon next week. So if I am going to start this project this year, I have to start this project next week. Ironically, I can’t go with him to Prosser on Monday because I have to work on this goal website thing and then attend photography class.