Bottle Day

Along with Louie and friends, I  recently visited Reid Family Winery (jkirkwood)  in Napa and spent the day bottling a entire barrel of 2007 Merlot. It was fun to go through the bottling process, especially since we were bottling under the direction of someone who knew what they were doing.

Our "job" began at 10 a.m and when we finished a few hours later, we had bottled 120 bottles of  wine. Maybe you'll find a bottle at your table next time I visit!

Bottles waiting to be filled

The filling station

A baster is used to adjust the ullage

Definition - Ullage:  "the amount by which the contents fall short of filling a container, as a cask or bottle"

Whatever....

You  need to pump this machine with your foot to insert the cork

(cork must be put in straight otherwise the foil, which comes next, gets crinkly)

Orange shoes optional.

Foiler adds foil and then sticks bottle in this machine to seal it up

Voile!

Waiting for the lunch crowd......

A poolside lunch is always tre cool

Fern Buddha checking things out

Bird Casita

Found items

These weren't the exact grapes we used but you get the "picture"

Salud!!