Bottle Party

In the first week of October, 2010, on a small plot of land in Northern California, 144 pounds of pinot noir grapes were picked from their vines and loaded into 4 plastic lugs to be stacked and loaded into a refrigerated truck for their long passage to the east.  Yesterday, almost 15 months later, the journey of those grapes came to an end, in the bottling of my 2010 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. 

Winemakers like to turn every occasion that requires significant amounts of manual labor as an excuse to invite their friends over for a “party,” and last night’s bottling was no exception.  Two generations of three families accomplished the task in just over an hour, allowing for plenty of time to enjoy the remnants literally strained from the bottom of the barrel. 

Drew and Hal on the new
corking machine.

This is my first pinot noir made 100% at the home winery, and it’s already drawing favorable reviews to the 2009 release, which to date had been the star performer in the cellar.  I’ve often read that one of the biggest flaws of homemade wine is that it’s simply served before it’s ready, and to prove the point, if you go to your local wine shop this evening you’ll struggle to find many 2010 red wine releases to choose from.  Nonetheless, with a 35 bottle production and 35 days left in the year, the symmetry may be difficult to resist.

  

Good to the very last drop.