We didn't really know what he meant by that, but the time finally came for us to bottle our wine. Really, the hardest part for us was to coordinate weekends that we were each free. Between weddings and family reunions, it was tough for Tom and I to pick a weekend that we were both free. But finally we nailed down a weekend, and it was time to put our prize into bottles.
The first order of business was to have enough bottles to put all the wine in. We re-used bottles, which meant drinking, and asking friends and roomates to save any bottles that they drank. We were specific too...green bottles, with high 'shoulders' and punts in the bottom of them. What I learned was that it seems that no two bottles are alike, so while they all look similar, they're not exact.
Tom was in charge of filling the bottles, we used our siphon hose that he kinked after each bottle got filled. We filled our tasting glasses before the first bottle to make sure that it was palatable.
He was good, but if he overfilled it a bit, we'd have to pour some in our tasting glasses to get the wine just up to the necks of the bottles.
We rented a cork machine from the brew shop, and it held the bottle in place with a spring-loaded platform.
When you pull the lever, a vice tightens the cork down until it's no wider than a pencil. Then the punch pushes the cork into the bottle with a satisfying "thwunk." We toasted our first corked bottle.
We didn't want to bottle the "lees" which is the thicker sediment that was in the bottom of the barrels. But hell, we weren't just going to throw it out. We ended up all drinking it, and although we had done enough 'tasting' to warm us up, the lees wine still tasted delicious, if not a bit thick and pulpy.
We bottled 55 bottles, and drank the rest of the lees down at the beach afterwards. This is where I realized what Jerry meant when he said to "be careful." I couldn't tell you how much I drank (since it was usually straight from the hose,) but I can tell you that I was feeling pretty damn good by the end of the day. And had a truck-sized headache the next morning.
We designed the label the next day, and Tom and I both had a similar design in our minds when we started the design process. We wanted something clean, sharp, and bold. So here is the label:
I have 26 bottles, and I'm going to enjoy them over time with friends. I want to see how the taste evolves over the next couple of months, and save some to age for years.
I had my first bottle with Kelly at Frito Misto, my favorite neighborhood italian restaurant. After Kelly told our waiter that it was our wine, we poured them a glass and the staff tried it. They gave it rave reviews, but I suspect they were just being polite. Whether they were or not, I still know that it's the best tasting wine I've ever had, and I can see why winemaking is such a great thing. Tasting the fruits of your labor, there's nothing finer.
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