Sunday August 31 st was the day chosen to bottle our 2007 Pinot Noir that was harvested last September. The wine had been in a new French oak barrel for nearly one year. We had a beautiful Sonoma day for bottling. When we arrived at the winemaker's house Marty had everything ready. In addition to Marty the bottling team was my wife Doris, Son-in-law Matt, Daughter Jenn and grandchildren Charlie and Caitlin.
The first step in the bottling process was to clean the bottles
in a bath of water and sulfide, rinse and rack them to dry. While Matt, Doris and I did that Marty sterilized the tubing, pump, vat and bottling station.
in a bath of water and sulfide, rinse and rack them to dry. While Matt, Doris and I did that Marty sterilized the tubing, pump, vat and bottling station.
When the 13 cases of bottles were cleaned, dried, and back in the cases it was time to open the barrel and taste! All the adults got a chance to taste before I put them back to work. The verdict was "this is good" with a note of surprise. The wine aging process is amazing. Doris and I had tasted the raw wine before it went into the barrel and the wine at that stage was crude, harsh and really undrinkable. What we had in our hands now was better than many we have tasted and it still has 6 months to a year of bottle aging before we will be serving the wine.
Marty
pumped the wine into a vat (food grade garbage can) from which we would siphon the wine to the bottling station. Before bottling we added a little sulfide to the wine to preserve the wine.
pumped the wine into a vat (food grade garbage can) from which we would siphon the wine to the bottling station. Before bottling we added a little sulfide to the wine to preserve the wine.
My job was bottling operator, filling bottles at the three spigots. 
Doris 
was "Bottle QC", adjusting the wine level in the bottles. Matt being young and strong had the hard job of corking the bottles. Jenn took pictures and kept Charlie and Caitlin entertained.
Doris 
was "Bottle QC", adjusting the wine level in the bottles. Matt being young and strong had the hard job of corking the bottles. Jenn took pictures and kept Charlie and Caitlin entertained.
The end result of our efforts was 12 cases and 8 bottles of wine. In the barter agreement I had made with Marty, the winemaker and the grower would split the completed wine. So we loaded six cases and eight bottles of wine into the car and drove home pleased with our efforts.
Having been a CFO in my working life, I am cost oriented so I began calculating the cost of my wine. I am not including the land cost or development cost of the vineyard in the calculation. Just looking at the cash outlays for the season.
Farming Cost $1200
Harvest Cost $517
Total cash out $1717 divided by 80 bottles = $21.46/bottle
