Bottling is my least favourite part of the winemaking process. Any mistakes at this late stage are critical to the wine and have the potential to destroy all that work in the vineyard, during vintage, maturation and in preparing the wines for bottling. It is a time when I am very particular about how my wines must be treated. It is a time for analysis and control.
This year we decided to take more control over the bottling process by taking our wines down to state of the art winery, Mandoon, where we arranged for Maurice and Peter of MAP Bottling with their portable bottling and packaging line to bottle our wines. It was a delight to work with such professional people who cared about the product in such a beautiful facility. Uncle Ray, Aunty Lee, Mum, Tetka Beka, Ujak Milic, Pat and Roger made excellent bottling line staff. We were finished by 2pm rather than the expected 5pm!
Although I find it hard to look at my wines after bottling - after they are warped and pumped and crammed through filters - I think the 2010 reds as a whole show bright red berry fruit rather than the darker mulberry/plum spectrum of the 2008s.
As I write, the truck is bringing back our cartons of wine to our winery where they will recover for 18-24 months before we release them. It gives me great pleasure to walk through our storage rooms and see these wines resting only 10 metres from the vines from which they originated. There is a nice synergy in that, I think.
So vintage 2010 is finally laid to rest, ready for your appraisal in a few years time.
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