Down the Bottling Line
Every winery has its own unique way of bottling. Curious about how your favorite winery in Napa does it? Everything is done on-site in our winemaking facility in Napa...on the back of a big rig backed up to our warehouse, of course. Our bottling process is simple and straightforward with quality in mind. Workers monitor each station and the whole process operates like a choreographed dance. For the day, the cellar buzzes with the non-stop whirr of equipment and clink of bottles as they move down the line.
Let's take it step-by-step.
Step 1:
Empty bottles are taken from their cases and placed onto the conveyor headed straight to the bottle filler.
Step 2:
As the bottles move onto the wheel, vacuum and compressed air blow out any cardboard dust. The wine feeds from the tank inside the winery into a reservoir on the top of the bottle filler which fills 6 bottles at a time.
Note:
A gas line delivers nitrogen which serves two purposes: it protects the wine from exposure to oxygen and degasses the wine, removing any lingering carbon dioxide.
Step 3:
The filled bottles are moved down the line, where a screwcap or a traditional cork is added to seal the bottle. Any guesses on what the wine pictured below could be?
Hint: "For the label, we’re taking it back to our vintage roots with an image of a woman adorned in flowers."
Step 4:
The bottles continue down the line where two to three workers place capsules over the mouth.
Step 5:
Each bottle is placed onto a pedestal, where the machines rotate the bottle 180 degrees to perfectly apply the front and back labels. Peep the example bottle displayed on the left, to make sure the machine is operating correctly. Quality control, folks!
Step 6:
Once the bottles have made it through each station, they are re-packaged into the same boxes they started in.
Step 7:
The cases are labeled, pushed through a tape dispenser, and placed on pallets. Ready for transport!
That's a wrap!
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