Cab Franc Taste-Along Video
Before watching the video below, go get yourself a bottle of Cab Franc (from Colorado if you can find it!). Then pour yourself a glass, hit play and taste along with me! Click here to watch video now!
The winter months are generally a slow time of year for wineries in the northern hemisphere. Grapes from the previous year have been laboriously tended to, harvested, crushed, fermented and filtered. The wine ages in big stainless steel tanks or oak barrels, where it takes on flavors and nuances from the oak. The last step in the wine making process is transferring the wine from barrels to bottles. This is usually the most action that happens during the winter and it’s an important last step. Bottling is the last “hand” that winemakers have in the process, before releasing the finished product to the market or allowing it to age longer in the bottle.
I was excited when my aunt and uncle invited me to come out to Grand Junction, Colorado to help with bottling at their winery, Whitewater Hill Vineyards. There are different methods of bottling, from painstakingly hand labeling, filling and corking to automated Monoblock machines that do everything for you. My aunt and uncle have a system that falls between the two extremes, and with three people we were able to crank out 330 cases of wine in a day (that’s 3,960 bottles!).
I brought my camera to document the process for you all to see. We bottled 75 cases of Cab Franc and 255 cases of Merlot, both of which had been aging in oak for 12 months.
Afterwards, I tasted through all of their wines with my aunt, starting with her un-oaked Chardonnay and dry Riesling and then through their dry reds, including Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from the previous year. The real treat was finishing with their 10 year old Tawny Port that tasted like Pecan Sandies and would be a perfect match with crème brûlée!
Whitewater Hill Tasting Room
Their vineyards and winery are located just outside of Grand Junction, Colorado within the beautiful Grand Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area). Not many people associate Colorado with vineyards but this high elevation wine region has the perfect climate for growing wine grapes. A small winter storm came through while I was there, capping the vines with a beautiful white cloak of snow.
View of Whitewater Hill Vineyard in February
Watch this video to get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes in the middle of the winter at Whitewater Hill Vineyards! We’ll also do a Cab Franc Taste-Along where I’ll open up a bottle straight from the bottling line to sip and slurp with you.
I encourage you to try to find a Cab Franc to taste along with me. If you can’t find one from Colorado you might be able to find one from California, Washington or New York. You could also pick up a Chinon from France, which I talk about in the video.
Special thanks to my aunt and uncle, Nancy Janes and John Behrs at Whitewater Hill Vineyards for inviting me to be part of the bottling line and share my experience with all of you!
Cheers!
Click here to watch video in a new window
Very nice article Tracy! That really is a wonderful experience to help with the process and to be able to the taste the fruit of the labor. Well done!
Thank you Todd!