2009 Petite Sirah Estate Reserve

Before we pressed the 2010 vintages, we decided we should bottle the 2009 Petite Syrah.  We had been collecting bottles, had soaked the labels off them, and washed them thoroughly.  We had bought a transfer pump to move the wine from the carboys to the bottles, but hadn’t quite figured out how to control the flow of wine into each bottle.  We didn’t have any kind of bottling equipment.

Since Norm travels to L.A. weekly to deal with business up there, we’ve been having him stop by MoreWine, http://www.morewinemaking.com/ a place in Riverside that has any and all equipment and supplies a winemaker might need.  Lately he’s been stopping there weekly to pick up things like Fermaid-K, Go-Ferm, Opti-Red, yeast, MLB, SO2, test kits, bottle washing racks, and other bits and pieces for wine making.

I emailed Rob, the manager there last week, and told him Norm would be stopping by for corks and foil sleeves, and if he wanted to try to sell him a bottling line, to give it his best shot.  He did! 

This thing is the best thing since sliced bread!  It automatically stops filling at the correct level in the neck of the bottle.  We borrowed a floor corking machine from our friends at Ramona Ranch Winery and bottled 5 cases of wine.  This vintage will now age another year in the bottle.  There was a bit left over which we put in a gallon jug, which won’t last a month let alone a year!  It is pretty good, if we say so ourselves!

Cheers,
Elaine