Wine Bottling and Labeling - 2007 Birdland Merlot

We had a great morning this morning bottling and labeling our 2007 Birdland Merlot. We did it at Kaz Winery and Vineyard in Kenwood and there was none of this automated bottling line - this was a hands on project! There were 7 of us in the crew and each had their own job.

Here's John filling the bottles...(reminds me of milking a cow!)


As you can see from the photos, some kept busier than others! (Only kidding Sue :=D - I took the photo below of Sue twiddling her thumbs, but it was only during a break as we re-pumped the wine!).

Sue put the foils on the bottles and did some valuable QC work!


We ended up with 47 1/2 cases in total and it took us just 2 and 3/4 hours to process them all. Pretty good going!

John K our wine maker is in the middle here, and he put the corks in and Dennis is seen here, taking over from John on the filling slot.


The cases then made their way home to our cellar ...and we all finished in time for lunch together.

I was the label machine controller!


The bottles look great with their purple labels....and we all had fun doing it too. While a couple of hours on a production line was good to catch up and chat with friends, I don't think it's something I'll be looking to take part in every day!!

Now the bottles need some time to relax and get over their bottle shock before we can start drinking it.

Here, apart from drinking warm spiced cider, Ken secured the foils on the bottles and Bill put the bottles in the cases, labeled the case, sealed them and put them in the car.


Thanks to our great crew! The last photo shows us all with the two empty barrels and all our work complete!