Wine bottle DIY: Aging and Bottling

If you've been following along, you've seen the harvest, crush and the fermentation. To complete the final stages, our wine bottles will be aged in their cases waiting for our wedding day where they'll make their bottling debut. Are you ready to see the fruits of our labor??


Just a tease through the looking glass...

Wine bottle DIY: Fermentation

Previously in this DIY, we "harvested" and "crushed" in preparation for...

Fermentation... when the real work gets started!

After crushing and de-stemming, the juice from the grapes is put into the fermentation vats, where alcoholic fermentation takes place (the conversion of sugar into alcohol and CO2). Sometimes yeast is added to start fermentation.

Much like the transformation of grape juice into wine, we're taking a rough bottle and converting it into a smooth, velvety vessel.

Freshly cut bottles awaiting their "fermentation" transformation

Things we love

Celebrating Valentine's Day with a quiet evening at home. (Don't worry, we won't gloss over our last V-Day as soon-to-be-newlyweds! We always celebrate the week after/before to avoid the crowds.)

A chunk of Prima Donna cheese with a divine California Pinot Noir
(Arista 2006 Longbow Pinot Noir to be specific)

Netflix movie plus blankets, couch and snuggling

Obligatory but delicious chocolate strawberries.

Dessert from Papa's.
Mmmm, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
How are you celebrating your relationship with that someone special today?

(all personal photos)

Wine bottle DIY: Crushing

Now that you've harvested your bottles for the wine bottle centerpieces, we're ready for the second step in winemaking: crushing/de-stemming, aka cutting the bottles.

Let me begin by saying there are many ways to do this, ranging from "so simple I must be missing something" to crazy dangerous... like an alcohol-soaked string that is then lit on fire.
Like I said. Crazy. Dangerous. - source
Moving on. We started on the easy end of the spectrum...

Wine bottle DIY: Harvesting

Any winemaker worth their merlot will tell you harvesting is the first step in wine production. For our DIY project, we followed a similar path... only we're harvesting bottles instead of grapes!

Ffffwooosh, Napa countryside whizzing past
on our way to another winery.
We *heart* wine.