The 2020 grape harvest is underway! Here in Napa County several wineries have been posting photos of bins of grapes, and in some of the photos there are people standing around the bins wearing face masks. Yes this will be a masked harvest.
But back to the bins of grapes. In earlier posts I’ve shared about the requirement to hold a Weighmaster license here in California for wineries that are weighing purchased grapes. So if your winery (1) uses a scale to weigh grapes and (2) at least some of those grapes are purchased by your winery (or by clients who have their wines made at your site) then a Weighmaster license with the CDFA (california department of food & agriculture) is required.
This license can now be obtained via an online application. I’ve gone through the application process a few times now and am glad to share that is it relatively simple and you’ll actually receive your license immediately after completing the application and submitting payment via credit or debit card. It is an exciting thing in the world of wine compliance that an application is simple and has immediate results. We rarely get instant gratification like that and thus it is a real breath of fresh air!
To see the actual online application process take a look at my video: