Last week we bottled the first batch of Brunello di Montalcino for Casa Raia! Pierre-Jean was expecting closer to 1,460 bottles and we ended up with 1,368 Brunello di Montalcino 2006. It took us about 6-7 hours to complete the bottling and cleaning. The next day we were like a well-oiled machine and only took about 3 hours to bottle 895 bottles of Rosso di Montalcino. (photos to come later)
- The temperature in the cellar was around 50F so I was wearing 4 layers which included a rain jacket, fleece, hat, gloves, 2 pairs of pants, etc. And I was still cold!
- Bottling is a 4 person job
- Person #1 Fills the bottles
- Person #2 Corks them
- Person #3 Cleans them
- Person #4 Places the bottles in the bin (and counts)
- To transfer the wine, attach a clean hose to wine tank, then to filter, then to the pump, then to the bottling unit.
- Filter must have no pieces of plastic, paper, or other stuff in water or it will catch when cleaning. Our filter caught approximately 6-7 fruit flies from inside the tanks during our bottling! Eeeww.
- All items must be clean and dry! Everything that touches the wine was cleaned with alcohol, citric acid and caustic soda.
- The filling unit can fill 6 bottles at once. The spout will automatically stop when filled to the right level because it equalizes and will not go higher.
- You want a space 7cm from the top so the cork can be placed in perfectly
- The corking machine was easy to use, mechanized and sucks air out as it deposits the cork in
- No labels on the bottles now
- Bottles will stand “upright” for 4-5 days to allow air to escape and wine to settle. Then they will be placed on their side for another 4 months before being sold.
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