Bottled up

A long, long day today that began with a ton of help from the lovely Henny and Yvonne. This is the process. Wine is piped by gravity from the cuve to the little bottling machine. Into the bottle and then a cork is put into the (not!) state-of-the-art corker and pushed into the bottle which takes quite a shove. The bottle goes into a shopping bag which is then lugged into the kitchen and stacked on the kitchen table. Each bottle has a capsule placed on top and then held for 3 seconds in boiling water to shrink it to the neck. Bottles are then re-stacked, labels printed off and stuck (precisely we hope) onto the bottles. Cardboard boxes are made up, written on, six bottles are placed inside, a cardboard seperator inserted and the box is sealed and stacked. 424 bottles. Phew!
Handmade wine it certainly is.
Our thanks to everyone who helped turn it from a bare vine into a bottle. you know who you are.