Notes from the cellar ... courtesy of Associate Winemaker Ryan Prichard - photos from Ryan and enologist Jenny Schultz.

Last Wednesday, we bottled all of the 2013 Pinot Noirs - and what a day it was!

Jenny peering into the 2013 Durell Vineyard Pinot Noir tank.

Powered by donuts, we got in bright and early and started the day at 6am. The morning was in the '30s so we also gave the espresso machine a workout. (Note - this is NOT the espresso machine:)

A close-up of the valves and hose set up for bottling.

We are really excited about all of the 2013 Pinot Noirs. It was another great growing year and the wines are tasting great! The day was busy but everything went really smoothly. We had Ryan Mobile Bottling bring their mobile bottling truck to the winery and they worked like a well-oiled machine. We had a fantastic crew who loaded empty glass onto the bottling line, put the finished bottles back into the cases, then neatly stacked and wrapped the cases onto pallets.

The inside of the mobile bottling truck has the power to hypnotize.

With our small production, we finish bottling each wine quickly and must move from tank to tank amid the octopus of gas and wine hose. After emptying each tank of wine, we turn on the whirling tank rinser to add the orchestra of bottling sounds.

The bottom of the Pinot tank ... almost empty.

Our cork supplier, Ganau, delivered us some Jamba Juice smoothies mid-day which was amazing and...

We also hand-bottled some magnums and 3 liters the day before for those extra-special occasions. We will hand-label and wax dip these all when the busyness of bottling is over.

Jenny workin' the hand-corker.

We had all hands on deck, everyone on the production team were on the floor helping out and it was a great and successful day.

Catching every last drop of the 2012 Gap's Crown Pinot Noir

Ryan Prichard - Associate Winemaker