"stuttgartobsessed" (grantharmsen)
09/13/2014 at 23:15 • Filed to: None
4
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"stuttgartobsessed" (grantharmsen)
09/13/2014 at 23:15 • Filed to: None | 4
| 18 |
*Please excuse this shameless attempt to put 2 posts into 1 as to avoid the hour rule. *
Recently (read: 1 week ago) I found employment in Sonoma, CA. At a winery. A pretty cool winery. Now, you may be wondering: "What does wine have to do with cars?" Not much, actually.
This winery, however, is owned by a very interesting (and nice) man who's main business is sports car racing. And he doesn't just dabble, he's legit. Like class wins at LeMans with Jörg and Timo legit. He's Kevin Buckler, owner of TRG-AMR. That's The Racers Group - Aston Martin Racing for those of you who don't know. This means I get to walk through the race garage to get to the winery. All I have to do now is finagle a way into a hot lap of Sonoma Raceway or a go in what I'm calling the "marketing" Vanquish. You know, the street car covered in stickers that's used to promote the team.
The view from my "desk" on Friday. I was doing punch downs on some new wine. The team was traveling so only one race-spec Aston, plus the "Marketing" Vanquish, an old NASCAR, and a few customer Porsches.
So, yah, I think I love my job.
Also, here's an interesting take on the Tax The Rich guys from YouTube. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
> stuttgartobsessed
09/13/2014 at 23:18 |
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I am jealous as hell. I'm more of a beer guy than wine, but I'd make an exception to work there.
V8 Rustler
> stuttgartobsessed
09/13/2014 at 23:19 |
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That is just awesome.
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stuttgartobsessed
> mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
09/13/2014 at 23:23 |
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Yah it's pretty dope. I like beer too. And liquor. hmmm...
Conan
> stuttgartobsessed
09/13/2014 at 23:25 |
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I definitely envy you. That's a long ways from the farm winery I work for.
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mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
> stuttgartobsessed
09/13/2014 at 23:27 |
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Beer and Bourbon for me!!!
AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC
> stuttgartobsessed
09/13/2014 at 23:39 |
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Congrats on the job. That looks like an amazing "office." Do you mind if I ask what you do at the winery? I'm still in college but I am pretty interested in working at a winery/distillery/brewery after I finish school.
jvirgs drives a Subaru
> stuttgartobsessed
09/13/2014 at 23:51 |
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Ugh totes jelly!! Congrats tho!
thedevilinside
> stuttgartobsessed
09/14/2014 at 00:01 |
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Congrats on the hire at Adobe Road! Interested to hear from aomeone who works at his winery what it's like. Wonder if it's kinda run like a team/his team.
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stuttgartobsessed
> AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC
09/14/2014 at 02:06 |
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Sweet! What do you study? I mostly work in the tasting room and am more interested in Direct to Consumer (DTC) sales than actually making wine but it's a pretty small operation so I help out on the winemaking side from time to time which is pretty fun and very interesting. I'm not really persuing it because I didn't and don't want to study a whole bunch of chem and bio. Though in the industry you don't always have to study it in school. If you make good drink you can get hired/open your own joint.
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stuttgartobsessed
> mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
09/14/2014 at 02:07 |
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mmmmmm.... bourbon. though I prefer scotch. sweet, smokey, peaty scotch.
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stuttgartobsessed
> thedevilinside
09/14/2014 at 02:10 |
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Wow! Awesome that you know Adobe Road! Are you from the area or just a big fan of the racing side? Or maybe just really into wine? It's a ton of fun and he's a great guy. I haven't been there that long so I can't comment on how his team is run but it's a small team on the winery side so there is some overlap. Overall it's a great place to work!
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stuttgartobsessed
> Conan
09/14/2014 at 02:10 |
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You work for a winery too?? Which one? Where? What do you do?
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Conan
> stuttgartobsessed
09/14/2014 at 02:17 |
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We're a small place in Virginia.
http://www.rebecwinery.com/index.html
I do business appearances for my grandfather and manage customer service for our wine/garlic festival. It draws between 20-30,000 but it has hardly anything on Gilroy, obviously.
Festival link:
http://www.rebecwinery.com/page10.html
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stuttgartobsessed
> Conan
09/14/2014 at 02:18 |
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wait... do you make garlic wine??
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Conan
> stuttgartobsessed
09/14/2014 at 02:25 |
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No, no, no, we make a number of French and German varietals, some American blends, some odd Eastern European touches, and some fruit wines to please the locals (we collaborate with an orchard). My grandfather just got famous first by making a Sorghum molasses festival for local farmers so the garlic growers approached him. He saw it as a way to break through Puritanical early Virginia attitudes about wine/entertainment and insisted they make it a garlic and wine festival (he'd just made his winery) if he organized it for them. Eventually they tried to cut into his profits and he parted ways with them. We have all sorts of wineries, breweries, and cider places in the area now but he was one of the first to break through. Our festival's been running for 23 years, ever since I was a kid. It functions as a family reunion of sorts as Grandpa's always been excellent at convincing relatives to work for him. We sell out most of our bottles during our festival though we travel to all the other major state festivals too.
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AddictedToM3s - Drives a GC
> stuttgartobsessed
09/14/2014 at 02:52 |
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I'm currently in my fourth year of studying chemistry. Oh nice! How do you like working there so far? I imagine it's a better customer base than a restaurant. (And that Aston!) That sounds awesome, I hope to be able to pursue the winemaking aspect if my original plan after graduation doesn't work out. I have been trying to learn as much as possible about brewing homebrew beers recently. I definitely get you on the not wanting to study chem and bio though. Some days it's cool to learn new stuff but some days you just have no motivation to get out of bed and sit through countless hours of lectures and labs especially when it seems like everyone else who isn't a science major is out having fun, enjoying life and meeting people to enhance their chances of employment after graduation.
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thedevilinside
> stuttgartobsessed
09/14/2014 at 09:25 |
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I follow sports car racing really really closely.
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stuttgartobsessed
> thedevilinside
09/14/2014 at 11:36 |
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Awesome!