Since I last wrote in my journal it has been bottling time at the winery. We had several batches that were ready to go and so we decided to get as much done in one fell swoop as possible. I’ve bottled wine a few times here at Winterport. Usually Jody and I retire to the basement and work our way through a pallet or so of cases of bottles. This time it was a bit more systematic and speedy because Mike was on the bottling line with us. Mike and Jody have it down to a science. They are such good friends, and done this so many times, that they can anticipate each others thoughts and needs. So I have to try and fit into the scheme.

Today I worked the filling and corking stations. It starts at my left with a pallet of bottles where I would grab a case and quickly, but carefully turn them upside down on a wood counter. I was scared at first that they would break, but now it’s no problem. The bottles end up standing at attention ready to grab and fill. I toss the box over to the end of the filling line, ready to pack up again later. Two more cases soon join the first ,and it’s time for the next step. I grab a bottle in each hand, placing first one then the other top down over a air nozzle which blasts out any dust or glass chips. Then put them into the filler. Our bottle filler holds six at a time, grouped in pairs, and as a set are filled I pull them out, again one in each hand, and place them into the automatic corker machine. Finally I line them up so that Jody, who is to my right, can label them. It took a time or two for me to get smooth and efficient at this, but now I find that if I think about what I am doing, I get confused, and sometimes skip a step. So I go on autopilot and think about other things.

Photo gallery at end of post.