Getting the Wine in the Bottle

We started making wine in our garage in 1995. It was always small quantities, and bottling and labeling the wine wasn’t really a big deal.

Our biggest home winemaking project was in 2002. We made a barrel (25 cases) of Napa Valley Pinot Noir and a barrel of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Bottling that wine was a much bigger deal, and I have to say, lots of fun. We had a big party and several friends were put to the hard work of bottling (and drinking) the wine, while Steve and I fed everyone. We called that wine “Chateau Mom and Pop.”

Bottling the MATTHIASSON White Wine

But the whole game changed when we bottled our first vintage of the Matthiasson Red Wine in 2005. This was a bottling of 125 cases of the 2003 vintage. We had to decide on a label design, get the labels printed, choose and order bottles, capsules, and corks. Getting the whole thing coordinated with all of the supplies arriving at the winery at the same time was a huge feat. I was surprised at how hard bottling was the very first time.

We are starting to get ready for our 8^th year of bottling. We’ve increased the amount and number of wines that we bottle, so it still seems like a very complicated process. Now we have 13 different wines to bottle with new labels, new capsules, and new bottles.

bottling the peach wine with the boys -- old school

Yesterday was spent at the printers for the “press check” on a new wine brand that we will be starting (more on that soon). And tomorrow will be sorting through all of the different bottle samples that we ordered..... and it goes on....

The great thing about this business is the finished product. Once all of these wines are in the bottle, we get to drink them! (and so do you!).