How to take the stress out of bottling day

Aside from harvest itself, bottling may be the most stressful event in the winery. So many elements must come together to ensure a successful bottling day. The wine must be prepared, supplies ordered, filtration done and bottling line must be scheduled or prepped. A single issue can sometimes derail the whole day. To take some of the stress out of this process, the Virginia Wineries Association devoted the second day of its 2021 Annual Meeting to “Bottling for Winemakers”. The purpose of this program was to provide the tools we need to ensure the wine you make is the wine your customers get to enjoy.

Several resources from this meeting are posted online for your reference. Following is a summary of where you can find them

In the first technical talk, “Before Bottling Day”, Dr Beth Chang (Virginia Tech Food science and Technology) focused on stabilizing the wine matrix so that it is chemically balanced and microbiologically safe prior to bottling. She talked about the timing and order of additions as well as chemical measurements at key decision points. You can find slides from her talk on her VT Enology Extension website.

CLICK HERE TO SEE BETH’S SLIDES

This talk was followed by a panel discussion of with Emily Pelton (Veritas Vineyards and Winery), Matthieu Finot (King Family Vineyards) and Michael Heny (Michael Shaps Wineworks) sharing details of how these principles take shape in real life. 

CLICK HERE FOR A KEY TAKE-AWAYS FROM THE THE PANEL DISCUSSION

In the second technical talk, “Bottling Line 201” Dr. Matteo Meglioli (Viniserve) presented a primer on all things related to the bottling line: the equipment, hygiene, quality control measures, and common causes of trouble on bottling day. 

CLICK HERE TO SEE SLIDES FROM DR. MEGLIOLI’S SLIDES

A second panel discussion led by Ben Jordan included three winemakers talking about bottling at different scales (small lots, medium lots, large lots) using both in-house and mobile bottling lines. These and other resources can be found on theVT Enology Extension website and the VWA conference site.