Wine is a living thing ....

In so many ways ... from grapes to grape juice, then through fermentation, then throughout its life in a barrel and then finally to its final resting place in a wine bottle before you & I uncork and sip ...

Something I learned recently reinforces this thought - the BOTTLE SHOCK phenomenon

After you bottle a wine, the wine 'seizes up'. I believe it must get very upset after being so happy sitting quietly in a dark, cool barrel in our winery cellar. Its safe, its happy, Then one day, we decide its time to bottle. How to decide --> if for our Viognier, the sugars are down to zero, malo's have been blocked to a mouthfeel we like, the aromatics are pronounced, & as in our 2005 Catie's Corner -- grapefruit & tangerine peel fill your nose.

Then on bottling day, the wine is RUDELY forced through a bottling machine pump which forces wine out of a barrel & into every wine bottle. If that wasn't bad enough, then a cork is slammed in for good, labels are pasted & bottles are boxed in cases. I guess I must now know what giving birth is like.

The wine must get traumatized by its new surroundings. Its now seeing 'light' for the first time, its touching glass... how weird it must be, when its been swimming in a dark cool oak barrel for months. BUT as wine is a living thing, it evolves and gets used to its new 'womb' of sorts. So... few weeks after bottling, the aromatics open up again, the mouthfeel of the wine fills.

This is why we do NOT release or ship wine as soon as we bottle.

Wine is a living thing, isn't it cool ...

Q's, comments - pls. email me.

Bettina.