As many of you know, we have a longstanding internship program which began in 1985 when a friend of a friend asked me if I would host a French enology student. As former interns in Burgundy, France, Sarah and I understood how impactful an internship could be…so we said “Yes” and hence our internship program was born. Now, 39 years later, we welcomed our 39th intern – Victor Le Grix de la Salle to the winery and into our home.
Victor arrived on June 27 and jumped right into action on the bottling line. Like most of our interns, he is a student at École d’ingénieurs de Purpan in Toulouse, France which is a graduate agricultural school that has an emphasis in Enology. Victor grew up in Bordeaux and his family owns a winery in Entre-Deux-Mers, Chateau La Grand Verdus; he has spent time in their vineyard and cellar, so he fit right into our work here at Hafner Vineyard.

Victor went on the “classic French” tour of the west. He and two friends drove down the coast stopping in Santa Barbara for a quick detour. His father, Thomas, was an intern at Brewer-Clifton 35 years ago, so Victor and his friends stopped in for a visit. Onto to LA then over to Las Vegas and down to the Grand Canyon. They headed back north stopping in Death Valley (it was 124°!) and Sequoia National Park. All in all, they travelled over 2,000 miles in 6 days and created memories to last a lifetime.
Back at Hafner Vineyard, Victor enjoyed the end of bottling and the beginning of harvest. We had a week to prep for the Blanc de Blancs harvest which begin on August 9. Victor was a great teammate of Ricardo (who has worked in the cellar since 2006)…starting at 2 am…dumping the handpicked grapes into the press, then washing the bins before the next day’s harvest. Unlike still wines, the press cycles are long and gentle, and hence the days are long too. Thankfully, we only have two days of sparkling wine harvest!

Victor has become an integral part of our family. At the beginning of the week, he asks, “What shall I cook for you?” Sometimes we have suggestions but more often than not, he says “I’ll cook …” and he texts his mom who provides the recipes. We have had tomato farcie, poulet au curry, ecrasé de pommes de terre as well as a competition with me…duck breast two ways. (Marie and Cole, our grandkids, decided that we both won!) We are grateful for his enthusiasm and willingness to help in the kitchen. The best part is he cleans as he cooks!
Victor has several classmates who are interns in Northern California, so many weekends they toured together visiting San Francisco, Berkeley, Carmel and Yosemite. We have had the pleasure of living his adventures vicariously and his adventures always have an amusing twist…two involved a sheriff/ CHP officer, but only one ticket! There have been several lost items…how one loses shoes is perplexing to us, but Victor has done it twice, so far. In his defense, one pair was espadrilles and as he says they’re not really shoes; they only last a summer. The lost credit card seemed challenging, but in today’s world all you need is a photo of it on your phone and you’re good to go. He has also been a great sport about going on weekend or post-work bike rides around Sonoma County. 
His best adventure occurred last weekend. We had a cheese party here for some of his friends on Friday night. Victor and his friend, Jules, decided to go to Yosemite on Saturday morning…morning became early afternoon before they left armed with sleeping bags, a tent and a campground reservation. They arrived at the campground a little after 8 pm and were surprised to find that their fellow campmates were already in their beds. Dinner was not quite as deluxe as a French bistro, but it did have a similar theme…steak and potato chips. That’s it. One plate, one knife, no forks.

They woke up early (probably thanks to their campmates) and saw the sunrise illuminate Yosemite Valley. They decided to climb Half Dome and started out at 11 am! The good news was the trail going up was not crowded at all, because everyone else was heading back down. They did not pack a lunch but had three Clif bars and 2 liters of water. (Needless to say, I was a bit taken back by all of this because I have backpacked through the Sierras since I was a boy.) Once they summited, the adrenalin kicked in and they ran down the mountain arriving at the valley floor at 6:30 pm. Victor arrived home in Alexander Valley at 1:30 am. An amazing adventure to say the least; we are grateful they returned home unscathed and with both pairs of shoes.
It has been a true pleasure to have Victor in our home and become part of our family. He is quick witted, extremely helpful and always positive. When asked if something is ok, he always responds “it’s perfect.” We have had many dinners with Kate, Martin, Marie and Cole and Victor is always happy to play with the kids, in fact, he has become their big brother. Victor leaves in two weeks…it will be bittersweet because we will miss him smile and his charm, but we know we will see him in Bordeaux and hopefully here again soon.