The first harvest for the first Bosnian winemaker in America came quite close to catastrophe.
When she got word that Alma Rosa Winery’s winemaker had quit right before the 2019 harvest, Samra Morris — then the winery’s assistant winemaker — was staying with her husband near Napa, where he was enlisted at Travis Air Force Base. She hustled down and arrived at the Alma Rosa facility in the Lompoc Wine Ghetto, only to find two large steel tanks that were ordered months before just standing outside in the alley.
After dodging sniper bullets during her childhood in war-torn Sarajevo, Samra Morris isn’t fazed by the challenges of leading the harvest crew for Alma Rosa Winery. | Credit: Macduff Everton/ VinesandVisionSB.com
With the help of general manager Debra Eagle and some friendly winemaker neighbors, Morris forklifted the tanks into the winery, where they learned of the next problem: no electrical outlets. “The building had not been prepared for these tanks,” recalled Eagle. Thanks to kind electricians willing to work on Labor Day, Morris was able to whip the facility into shape just before the grapes arrived.
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