Time to Bottle

Everyone know about harvesting season. You harvest then process the grapes on their schedule -- once they reach a certain brix (sugar level) it's time to work. It's a crazy time with our vineyards and, of course, the other grapes coming in from other Michigan farmers as well. Holly goes for weeks and weeks without a break, sometimes working late into the night to process newly harvested grapes.

We're now in the midst of bottling season. Not so romantic. But not quite so hectic either. However, it still can be pretty crazy. We're madly ordering thousands of labels and bottles. And Holly has every Sunday (plus some other days) scheduled for the bottling of various vintages. I think of it as the equivalent of buying gas for your car. Boring. Expensive. Somewhat tedious. But you've gotta do it. The exciting part is introducing new wines or new vintages of old favorites.

We are exceedingly lucky that so many friends of the winery volunteer their time to help bottle. Sometimes folks who have volunteered don't get called (sorry - let us know if you haven't heard from us for a while). But we always appreciate eveyone's offers of help! The photo on the left shows Leo, Sue, and Diane bottling Serenade, our sweet Vignoles.