Bottling Wine in Less Time

Before that trip to Ridge this past Sunday, BK and I headed over to Cupertino to help bottle the Bonfire Vineyards Chardonnay. I tasted it before we got everything set up and was quite impressed with what I found: apple, pear, coconut, pineapple, and light butter. In fact, it seemed familiar to me, so I asked Ryan (the cellar rat) if it was Thomas Fogarty fruit. Turns out that it was from grapes grown at the Ventana Vineyards in Monterey, from which a Fogarty Chard is made, in barrels from the same cooperage (a 30 gallon new barrel from François Frères and an older 60 gallon from Tonnellerie Mercury). Score one for the palate!

After David filled the empty bottles with a shot of gas (nitrogen) he passed them over to Ryan (who was gassing a large format in the previous picture). Then the bottles, five at a time, were filled with Chardonnay. There was a bit of a trick to the pump, in that sometimes it did not stop when the bottles were full, resulting in spillage every once in a while. That’s okay–we had towels nearby.

I was on hand at the corker, a simple machine with an adjustable resting spot to hold the bottle. Once the bottle was in place, its top secure under the arm, I would place a cork into the opening, then pull the lever towards me, compressing the cork and forcing it into the bottle. It was hard to keep up with the filled bottles, as I could only do one compared to his five. And it didn’t seem like strenuous work at the time, but my left arm and shoulder were quite sore the next day from the repetitve motion. (But hey, it was much less work than when I helped press all day.)

After I had done my job, I passed the bottles to BK, who wiped each one clean and put it in its respective case. We had several different types of glass, so he had to keep like with like. Then he closed the cases and stacked them accordingly. I think by the end of the session we had done around 44 cases, including a couple dozen magnums and two large format (3 liter or maybe even 5, I’m not sure).

For my payment, I got to take home a few bottles where the ullage (empty space between the cork and the wine) was too much or not enough. We shared a bottle later that evening with friends at a BBQ and I received a text the next day from a gal wanting to get some for her mom.

Now, if we can just get these guys bonded….