Bottling 2018 – our smoothest ever
We are super excited to have Feely Sincérité Sauvignon blanc, Feely Générosité barrel aged white and Feely Sensualité Rose available again and also a new vintages of red Feely La Source, Feely Vérité and Feely Grace. The Sincerite and Sensualite are outstanding but in small volume due to the 2017 frost – Order yours online.
For bottling so many elements need to come together in a perfect dance it seems impossible. This week was the smoothest ever – save one small hitch to raise the heart rate.
The elements that need to be booked, planned and delivered in time include:
- forklift
- bottling machine
- 7 people
- bottles (different colours and shapes)
- corks (see my post on cork versus screwcap)
- capsules (different colours for different wines)
- labels back and front (from different suppliers)
- boxes and their correct inner layers (see below)
About two months before D Day we finalise the blend (if it’s blended). Once the final blend or wine is racked (see the Générosité racking photos ) and in a single vat per lot Sean has the wines analysed for residual sugar, SO2 and Alc Vol (needed for the label). Then the labels must be signed off by our organic certifier Ecocert and also by our biodynamic certifier Demeter.
This week we bottled 4 wines Feely Sincérité Sauvignon blanc 2017, Feely Générosité barrel aged white 2016, Feely Sensualité Rose 2017 and Feely La Source red 2015.
That’s a serious look of concentration – when the machine is flying there is no time for chatting – the second your mind wanders you are in trouble.
The only hitch this time was the supplier delivered the wrong inners for the boxes – Bordeaux inners for the Burgundy boxes… after a mild rise in our heart rates we found a solution.
Sometimes things need a serious man to man debate.
It was holidays so we rolled out the child labour – Sophia (right of me in the group photo below) and Ellie who was the official photographer hence not in the photo. Big thanks the team including Ian (in photo above and below), Ludovic, Camille and Charlotte for their hard work and good karma.
Come and learn more about wine with a visit to Chateau Feely in South West France ; stay or do a multi day course or multi day tour. You can read about the story of this organic vineyard, wine school and farm – the series includes three books Grape Expectations; Saving our Skins and Glass Half Full by Caro Feely. You can also order a case of no sulfite added organic wine including shipping in the EU. Join the mailing list to receive a seasonal newsletter, events, wine pairing, recipes and more info on this topic at the bottom right of this page.
