Bottling day

April 6 2013 was a fine spring day. The morning started cool, but by 10a, we had all shed the long sleeves and were enjoying the warming weather. Friends and family gathered in the winery to bottle our 2012 Chenin Blanc that we have decided to call Orion. Getting started is always the hardest part. Sanitation is critical in a winery, so we scrub and wash and rinse and sanitize everything. Most of it is done the previous night and then repeated the morning-of before any wine ever touches the filler, the pump or the hoses. Without assuring that everything is sanitized, it creates a huge risk of spoilage, and we all work too hard in the vineyard and the cellar to allow ourselves to become lazy at the end.

So what we started at 8a did not result in any wine transfered to bottle until a little after 10a! Clean, clean, clean… that is our philosophy. And if you aren’t sure, clean it and sanitize it. We rocked along until right at noon, filling about 30 cases. Took a break for lunch, then back to bottling. In the end, we filled 65 cases of Orion. I am excited to share the label with you, but Dianne is still not ready to release it to me. We are hopeful it will be submitted to the TTB on Friday or Saturday, at which point we will post it on the website, probably on the ‘Our Wines’ page.

We want to say thank you to all of the folks who helped with bottling, including: Renee, Judith, Kristin, Kate, Maleada, Jerry, Eddie[x2], Earl, Doug, Daniel, and James, who encouraged his dad to ‘…bottle more wine.’

As soon as we have labels approved and printed, Orion will be available in the tasting room, along with 2011 Gwinn, Front Porch Red, and Gratitude.