We recently completed a week of bottling at the beautiful Robert Craig Winery high up on Howell Mountain.
During bottling, the morning starts very early in order to get the wine ready and the equipment sterilized. The days are long as the wine moves through the filler into bottles, followed by cork and foil application, then labeling and finally packing into case boxes. Thousands of bottles are filled each day and every step has to work smoothly unless we want to hear the sound of breaking glass or tumbling boxes!
Our 2007 Howell Mountain Zinfandel comes off the mobile
bottling truck and into six-packs to be readied for release later this summer.
Some winemakers will tell you that bottling is their least favorite part of the job. For me, I really enjoy the process.
Bottling signifies an important time in the life of a wine and its maker. All the years of work in the vineyard and cellar – the cultivation, nurturing and hand-wringing, the tasting and blending decisions - are finally complete.
The wine has achieved the optimal stage for moving on to the next phase in its journey from vine to table – in the bottle where it will begin a more gradual evolution to greatness that was envisioned back when there were only grapes on the vine.
Bottling is not only the culmination of years of work in handcrafting the wine, but also months of planning, scheduling and coordinating the logistics of all packaging supplies, bottling truck, labor, and shipping and receiving details. Everything must be lined up well in advance for a smooth and uneventful bottling run.
It is inevitable that not everything will go as planned. A delivery glitch or equipment breakdown can have us scrambling to resolve the problem. When bottles are not moving – we are losing time and money. So it was very gratifying, during this most recent bottling, to have no major problems and to simply enjoy the continuous and hypnotic rhythm of a successful bottling run.
Realizing that we have captured the essence and beauty of the 2007 vintage of Affinity, Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, and Howell Mountain Zinfandel and the 2008 Durell Vineyard Chardonnay is definitely reason to celebrate!
Cheers,
Stephen Tebb, Winemaker
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