2005 Vidal Icewine: Bottling
Kim and I bottled our first vintage of icewine today. I wouldn't say it tastes 'fantastic', but it's certainly drinkable, and I have great confidance that what I make it 2006 will be significantly better.
We bought bottling equipment in the morning at Fermentation up on the Danforth. We got a hand-corker, 48 corks, 36 icewine bottles (used), a bottle brush, a bottle washer, a bottle rinser. We also got 20ft more of racking tube from Home Depot, 'cause the stuff I've been using lately is getting grungy.
We got home around noon and I rinsed and cleaned all 36 bottles over the next hour in the kitchen.
We started around 3:00: I racked straight from carboy into bottle using a little bottling tip on the end of a short, straight racking cane. It worked surprisingly well and we made very little mess. Kim then took the filled bottles and corked them. It took about an hour in total, and I'm pleased with the amount (or lack) of effort.