What an exciting job we had to do in the spring sun of today’s afternoon: bottling the very first batch of our wines. The main chunk of work will be done in a couple of weeks but we need a few boxes to be shipped to London next week for the RAW. Having one barrel and two extra carboys per wine (one containing 25l) we decided to bottle 25 liters each. So last wednesday I “mixed” two fresh 25l carboys with wine from the barrel and the full carboys – the mixture need to be exactly the same as it’s going to be for the main bottling event. As a result there was no half-full carboy left over which would oxidate a little too much over time.
The next day our bottles arrived. We decided to go with a 0.5l Schlegel (no idea what the English name for that shape is – I do mean the left one) for the white and a relatively light 0.75l Burgundy for the red.
And finally today Oskar spent the afternoon with his grandparents so we could get the work done. We opened all doors so we could enjoy the sun while filling the bottles with the precious juice. First we wanted to get them extra clean. A bath in hot sulfur water did the job pretty well.
I liftet the carboys with a hand pallet truck so we could use a small hose to get the wine in the bottle. It never went through a pump throughout the whole production process so it’s still full of natural sparkling CO2.
After bottling Melanie took care of the corks which were pressed in the bottles by a very old and super heavy hand cork machine.
The first bottle was a rememberable moment I have to say. That smile says it all doesn’t it?
Before putting it in cases – the labels haven’t been finished yet so this piece of work is still left!
Thank god there was a little bit of time & wine left to get a glass filled.
And have a sip in the beautiful sun we could enjoy today. 
Now we’re prepared for the RAW and we’re prepared for the main bottling event having learned a few little things today (like: how to fix the hose so it doesn’t slip out of the carboy). Cheers!