Bottling Season
What's happening at the winery now? Along with staying inside as much as possible to avoid the 105-degree heat and watching the National Guard move in to the fairgrounds across the street (to help with the fires, thank goodness), we're working on bottling details. Confirming glass, confirming labels, delivering corks and capsules.
This year we'll have branded corks and capsules on all the 2007 reds and 2008 whites (with our name, logo and, for the corks, Web site and phone on them). They're a lot more expensive than the generic, grape logo on the top capsules and blank corks, but we always intended to do this, along with eventually screenprinting the labels on the bottles. We're also looking forward to having three Pinot Noirs this coming year to offer (meaning three separate runs of Pinot Noir labels, all different). Plus a late-harvest Sauvignon Blanc, a "regular" Sauvignon Blanc and possibly a Semillon. Whew!
There are a lot of details to worry about with packaging. The main concern sprouts from the nature of a bottling line. You must always order extra labels, corks and capsules because there WILL be a glitch or some error involved in getting the machine set up for each, individual label, cork and capsule, and you'll lose a few percent through that process. Double-labeled bottles, smooshed capsules, it all can happen.
This year we'll have branded corks and capsules on all the 2007 reds and 2008 whites (with our name, logo and, for the corks, Web site and phone on them). They're a lot more expensive than the generic, grape logo on the top capsules and blank corks, but we always intended to do this, along with eventually screenprinting the labels on the bottles. We're also looking forward to having three Pinot Noirs this coming year to offer (meaning three separate runs of Pinot Noir labels, all different). Plus a late-harvest Sauvignon Blanc, a "regular" Sauvignon Blanc and possibly a Semillon. Whew!
There are a lot of details to worry about with packaging. The main concern sprouts from the nature of a bottling line. You must always order extra labels, corks and capsules because there WILL be a glitch or some error involved in getting the machine set up for each, individual label, cork and capsule, and you'll lose a few percent through that process. Double-labeled bottles, smooshed capsules, it all can happen.
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