A Wine is Born (Two Actually)

This weekend, with the help of my loyal winemaking crew, I completed the first ever bottling at the Dry Run home winery facility.  In my years of winemaking so far, I’d put it right up there with my first grape crush and the appearance of my first grape bunch in the home vineyard as the most exciting and rewarding winemaking events to date.

Per usual when I’ve done something for the first time, it didn’t go exactly according to plan, with the greatest difficulty stemming from my bottom of the line hand held corking device (a problem, like most, that can be resolved by another capital outlay), but all-in-all I couldn’t be happier with the day and the output, and that’s not just because I consumed at least a bottle of the product during the process.

The assembly line went something like thus:  I racked the wine from its carboy to a bucket with a spigot, and one by one filled the bottles up to the bottom of the neck.  Drew and Charlie manned the “one-man” corker, and eventually developed a strategy that avoided inserting every other cork only halfway in.  Brita and Lily used a specially designed (and purchased) plastic device to dip the bottle in boiling water and shrink the decorative foil into place.  Then Kim had that delicate task of adhereing each front and back label, one at a time, so they came out perfectly aligned and wrinkle-free.  Very impressive.

After about two and half hours of focused work, we came out with two cases each of Chardonnay and Malbec, ready to be shared at your next dinner party (hint, hint to all both you readers out there).





Drinking from the bottom of the barrel, literally.



Bottle Prep

If I amortize the capital expenditure costs I’ve incurred across the 4 cases of Chardonnay and Malbec I’m about to bottle, I could easily have purchased some of the finest wines in the world for a comparable cost.  Nonetheless, I decided to save a few cents a bottle by recycling used bottles from the house.  (Lord knows I generate enough of them.)  This means that each bottle to be used has to be washed and soaked, then scrubbed to remove the labels, then rinsed three times, then sanitized and rinsed another three times before they are ready for use.  Needless to say, by the end of the process my hands come out looking like raisins.  Better my hands then my grapes, I guess.

Speaking of, my vines have continued to mature nicely.  The berries have now swollen to a size where they actually look like delicious grape clusters, and I expect them to start turning from green to purple any day.  I hope to get one last fungicide spray in before that happens, but it won’t be long now until I learn whether I’ve successfully fought of black rot for the season.  If the grapes soon start looking like my picked hands, then I know I’ve lost another harvest.  Just in case, I figured I better get some good photos in while I can.