Last week I bottled the 2007 vintage. A mobile bottling truck came to the winery and set up on the crush pad. It takes about 9 people to bottle the wine. One to empty the bottles out of the cases, one to place them on the sparger, one to fill them, one to cork them, one to place the capsules on the bottles, one to seal the capsules, one to monitor the labels going on correctly and 2 people to put the bottles back into the boxes and stack them on the pallet! I spent my time putting the capsules on all 4,056 bottles! Just like last year there will be Syrah from Stagecoach Vineyard in Napa Valley (274 cases) and also the first vintage of The Octopod — a Syrah from the Furlong Estates Vineyard in the Alexander Valley. I was expecting to get 75 cases of it, but ended up with only 64 cases, so it’s going to be a hot commodity that I’m sure will sell out fast. (Look for a pre-release offer next month). Both wines are suffering from a slight case of bottle shock at the moment but with a little bit of bottle age they’ll be tasting exceptionally well by the Fall.
Taking The wine Out of Barrel to Get it Ready For Bottling
Pallets of Bottles Waiting For Wine
The Bottling Line Waiting for the Days Work to Begin
Unused Corks Swimming in a Pool of Overflow Wine (not as much as it looks!)
