Wednesday, September 8, 2010

It's (Not) the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Hello, All!

When someone talks about a winery or wine making, I think it is safe to say that everyone's thoughts go immediately to the harvest season.  Sunny and crisp days, cool nights, apple cider (donuts), beautiful foliage; these are the images that those of us in the Finger Lakes are fortunate enough to associate with our harvest.  With the distinct chill in the air recently, we're certainly all starting to feel that way at the winery as well as readying our music selections for the fall.

But not so fast!  Harvesting our gorgeous clusters of grapes is all well and good, but where exactly are they going to go?  Obviously the juice is going to spend at least some time in our tanks after being pressed from the grapes, even if it will very quickly be on its way to barrel aging.  By extension, this means our tanks need to be empty of last year's wine ahead of the harvest.  And thus, before the harvest, comes a period of time just as busy and important in the winery: bottling season.

Where are the Fall Colors?
None here, but Pete's tie-dyed shirt keeps things light on the bottling line.

This was one of the first lessons I learned upon entering the winery, that bottling season is the often invisible crunch time that we have to survive just to make it into the current year's grapes.  Harvest and our memories of it are always tinged with romance, but make no mistake that the intense and long days of bottling wine are just as crucial (if not as fun).

Hope we will have an update on our sparkling wine to post tomorrow and maybe some more behind-the-scenes discussion on the bottling season, so stay tuned as we continue our ramp up into the vintage!

Music of the (Bottling)Day:


Support Artists, buy the music you like!

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