Aubrey Vineyards had the pleasure of bottling for the first time last month. Although the heat was a challenge, we were able to process 9,842 bottles!
We couldn’t have done it without Brent Baker of Old Woolam Custom Bottling. He brought his mobile bottling service from Owensville, Missouri to Aubrey the weekend of July 25-26.
This unique process starts with unlabeled and empty glass bottles arriving on pallets, and these bottles are loaded onto a conveyer belt. The bottles are rinsed with ozonated water to ensure cleanliness. Next, the bottles are sprayed with an injection of argon, also known as sparging. This is to remove the wine-ruining gas otherwise known as oxygen.
The bottles head down the line to a rotating filler where wine from tanks are pumped into the awaiting bottles. An auto-leveler ensures the bottles are filled precisely to the right amount. More argon is sprayed into the necks of the bottles to displace any remaining oxygen. The cork is then compressed and pushed into the bottle because the diameter of the cork is larger than the diameter of the wine bottle’s opening.
Next the bottles enter the stage where covers called “capsules” can be added to the necks of the bottles. The bottles then head to the self-adhesive label application machine. As the bottles exit the truck on the conveyer belt, they are put into cases and immediately put into temperature controlled storage
The vines have been maturing for the previous three years and we anticipate a great harvest for next year’s bottling. Aubrey’s tasting room is expected to be ready early this fall.