What's in a Label...

The farm frenzy has recently switched locations, and it is a bit disorienting. The mayhem of the bottling truck, parked out in the front of the cellar, has closed it's doors and packed away, and now the activity has shifted to the back door of the cellar, where the labeling machine hums away. Many of the same nuances of the bottling truck

can be attributed to the labeling line-- the same bottle waltz, the same rhythmic teamwork between the workers, the same constantly mesmerizing clink of bottles-- but somehow there is a different feeling to it all. Everything is vastly simplified in the labeling process, for starters there are no more levers and everything is horizontally driven. Gone are the dip down spouts that fill the individual bottles and the lifts that bring the bottle to it's cap; all is cleaner and simpler. The bottles now have a much shorter runway on which to strut their stuff before they are twirled and slapped with their predetermined label. Life as a wine bottle is hard.

Still, it is quite amazing to see these unfinished, mysterious pieces of craftsmanship emerge as commercial-ready products. There is something intensely intriguing about an un-labeled bottle, but seeing as how un-labeled is un-branded, such things will never last...