Labelling 2007 Adamo & Marty

Wednesday evening we'll be labelling the 2007 adamo - that is a blend of sangiovese and cabernet franc - very unique , very right for spring. treat yourself and order before the country clubs snap 'em up for those outdoor buffets.

where is Marty? Does anyone know? Last seen in Colorado. Last spoken to last week, sometime. Last voicemail and text ignored, last Friday. What's up with that? Hello, Marty? You out here?

Picture of Marty, so we can remember what he looks like.

Bottling #2

More corks arrived on Wednesday so we tried bottling the last of the Adamo 2007. However, the sediment got kicked up so we had to abandon the effort since we were not willing to filter the wine.

We did find other stuff to do though. We finally transferred the last of the wine out of secondary fermentation into ageing. The last of the wine is the Trovato 2008 (sangiovese and pinot noir).

Another activity is finalising labels for 2007's wine. We're going with the same labels again, just changing alcohol levels and year on back. We also need to get the new label and name approved for the pinot noir we're doing.

Saturday will see a few people popping over to see us. Maybe they'll allow us to post pics of them - maybe they're on facebook. Do check out the facebook account - become a friend.

A Temple of Our Wine

So, you know we're pretty creative bunch what with soap dishes made from our barrel staves, soap with our grape skins and so on and so forth, not least the design elements of our labels, choice of bottles...well, looks like we have surpassed ourselves this time!

It didn't start out as being a Temple of Wine, but that's what it ended up as.

We took a used French Oak barrel of ours, cut out the front, used the staves to make internal shelving, burned images and text into the wood, made it safe, but all from the perspective of a floor display.

Then it gets borrowed and it ends up in the air and looks like a Temple of Our Wine. See photo. That's our wine bottles around, in and on it.

Some behind the Scenes...

This is our corking machine. Place cork in brass hopper and pull lever down.

This is our filling machine. Place bottle under nozzle (teat?) and fill.

This is our labelling machine. Place on labelling table in exactly same spot as last time, labeller in exactly same spot on table, get template bottle with secret marks on it to align, then place bottle on it, hand crank and the labels are on...maybe first time if you've been a good lad. If not, you will suffer the endless torment and agony of micro-adjusting misaligned labels.

Bottles, upright in cases on our roller conveyor, resting to allow the cork to decompress in the bottle neck, before going on to labelling and then being placed upside down in cases to keep cork wet.

Delaware City Council, Some Shops, Restaurants and Stuff

[apologies for lack of pics - will remedy that]

Delaware City were very impressed with our presentation. Our theme was Sustainability, Community and Integrity, rather than the "give us" attitude. They really appreciated what we had to say and have put us in touch with property owners in Delaware, who we're working with. This is all coming a couple of years ahead of plan as we were going to stay where we are for three production years and here we are, barely into year 2, and we're off speaking with Cities.

We had a great time at the Columbus Local Matters annual meeting putting local producers in touch with local business and we're following through on good contacts made at that event. Needless to say, we targeted those people who were in chef uniform first.

Going out to shops is an experience. You get all kinds of opinion expressed and it never ceases to amaze me just how subjective a subject wine is. I do not think we've had two tastings result in the same comments from the stores we have done. It has all been positive, but everyone finds their own thing in the wine.
The differentiator among stores is currently falling into two camps; those who are interested in the connection with the winemaker and how the wine is made, and those just concerned about marketability and price-point. All are equally valid - this is just an observation is all.

The restaurants are totally different though. They seem to need that connection to the winemaker, that we offer, so that they can talk as well about the wine and what it took to make it in the same way they can explain the food they make. We even have Scali's inventing a desert for the Trovato there and then as we took him thorough tastings of our wines!

Finally , all our labels are approved and are with Bob at Tapp's for printing. We hope to have them very soon as we have sales for the unlabelled wine too.

Last week we check the naturally occurring sulfite level in our wines. After 5 months from crush, the range is between 35ppm to 55ppm of naturally occurring sulfites. We added enough to get to 60ppm to stabilise through a year of upcoming ageing. Remember, 60ppm still well below the organic standard of 140ppm!

We're still seeking insurances - product liability etc. As a new venture this is not that easy and potentially limits sales as there are some entities that require you to carry the requisite insurances. We'll get through it though - always do.

We also thank Joe Mercurio for his support and introduction to Giuseppe's. Thanks, Joe.

Just a Few Things...

As we creep ever nearer achieving that most excellent event of seeing our wine in its bottle, fully dressed, there are events going on that heighten this excitement and serve to douse it somewhat. In short, we're experiencing a decidedly mixed bag of emotions right now. Its effect is seen in how few the posts to this blog has become.
So this post will be plain and just go through some high and low lights of the past few weeks. It's ameasure of things when we really only have one low, but it is of such fundamental importance, it seems to dominate and negate all else.

Highlight 1 - Soaps and Recycling Grape & Seeds.

This is so cool. Lucia of Zen Tree Soaps found a use for our grape skins and seeds. She makes soaps and all manner of our related products. When she came by to see us transfer from primary fermentation to secondary fermentation she went away with about 3lbs of each grape varietal we had - taken right from the fermentation bins.
Within a week she had returned to show us her Pinot Noir soap. A soap with our pinot noire grapes in it. Paolo has been using this for two weeks now and reports the bar is at the stage where the grape skins are really poking up and so as you soap yourself they act as an exfoliant.

Highlight 2 - Recycling Grape Sediment (Lees).

Still with Lucia, we gave her about a cup of lees from which she is experimenting with a face pack. The lees are a great anti-oxidant and we know from our own experience, that if you smear it on your face, as it dries it really cleanses your skin.

Highlight 3 - Candle lab

Curt of The Candle Lab stores visited. They make custom candles and they run candle making parties. he likes our wines and is looking for a way to introduce them into the business. State laws, such as they are, do not simply allow him to sell our wine, or readily include them as a private event party beverage.

Highlight 4 - Maca's

Michelle (of Mamapalooza fame in prior posts, and partner in StarfFish Clothes), called us from Maca (a Tapas Bar in Powell, no website) . She had got the owner interested in our wines. So we went down with some wine for him to try. This was very nerve-wracking as it turns out that Norm, who was a basketball player for Barcelona (No.15), Spain, was taught how to taste wine by the winemaker of Chateaux Margaux.
Long and short of it was that he liked it, said we were doing the right thing, and that it was amazing that we turned out a nice wine as he thought we had a big handicap other winemakers don't (our shipping of our grapes).
So he wants the wine. And again, State laws being such as they are, this is not as simple as it sounds due to minimum markups etc. But we'll get there.

The Abyss - 1

Our label approval is a grind.

Federal laws being such that they are, means that because our State of Ohio does not touch California, where we get our grapes, means we cannot claim the California appellation. Fine. However, if you want to state the grape varietal on your label, you need the appellation, so we are prevented from stating the varietal on the label. And, without the varietal stated, you cannot put the year.
So, even though , we do get our grape from California, we do use sangiovese etc, and we did produce our wine from the 2006 harvest, we cannot say any of that at all, anywhere.
All we can say is Red Wine, state alcohol content and give the blend or varietal a fanciful name.
We were not allowed to state that we don't sulfite either, or use minimal sulfites, or sulfites below the organic standard.
At one point we were prevented from using "produced" even though we do produce the wine - that got sorted out in our favour - eventually.
We feel penalised. We cannot state what we have done on our label. we cannot state truth. In fact, during one enquiry of the Feds, we were accused of doing something illegitimate because otherwise we wouldn't be querying their rules and trying to find loopholes to get the true information on our label!
How does this serve the public, when we are prevented, through regulation, from stating truthfully on the product's label what is in the bottle so that the consumer can make an informed decision?
Whatever, we'll get there. If anyoen has some helpful industry advice, it would be very welcome.

Columbus C.E.O. Magazine Article
Yeah, we'll talk about this later. Lessons learned in journalism, we guess.

Labels (again) with more Crush Prep, MamaPalooza #2

Label Update.

We have settled on a front label for the SanGiovese, SanGiovese/Pinot Noir, Syrah and Cabernet Franc. The last corrections went off to Kim today to take care of.

We also got our rear label through. My own initial impressions were good. The four different takes of the rear label that Kim worked up for us will be discussed at tomorrow's winery meeting. Personally speaking, I hope we can have a definitive vote for one of them, in the same way we did for the photo for the rear label. If we do we can then proceed to get the labels reviewed and approved by the FEDs, and then Ohio Liquor Control Board.

Crush Prep.

Last week saw a re-think of the crush equipment set up. We had initially designed and built a chute system, but on further consideration this was actually the right solution to the wrong problem and so one redesign later, we're doing something different ... keep watching for a post and pictures on how this new development shakes out.

MamaPalooza #2

Remember we went to MamaPalooza a while back? Well, we're invited again. Those on the mailing list will get an invite too as we can invite others. There will be a pie competition too - those of you getting invites please look out for invite for website containing the details.

I guess we'll have to take more wine?

Labels, Pricing & VZ Navigator

Tonight we went on a field trip to look at approved wine labels. We got frustrated with the regulations which state that if you can only substitute the "class/type" of wine with a varietal name if you put the appellation (where they came from) on the label. This is frustrating because since we are located in a place that doesn't geographically touch California, we cannot put California or Lodi or San Joachim on the label. We can put American Wine on though - big help that.
So we went looking for examples of American Wine and how other wineries producing wines from grape in other states/parts of the world do it. And we were pleased to see many just do not comply. Our label will be submitted for approval with varietal and no appellation, the appellation being reserved for the rear label where we think it can stay as it is a statement of truth and why wouldn't we be able to state the truth - that our grapes come from California?
As to pricing, nothing really happened. The wine selections were not that great either, with a mighty overpriced ( I mean 1,000s of %) French table wine I used to pick up in Calais, France, on my way back home from work/holiday weekends in France.
But VZ Navigator worked well. This is the GPS application you can get on your Verizon wireless phone - put in where you want to go and it gets you there. It has voice and graphic directions. This is the second time I have used it and it makes for very relaxing trips, via routes you wouldn't take, so you see something different.

Foil Spinner Update & Another Back Label Candidate

The Foil Spinner

So, it turns out that UPS Customer Support didn't mean "cash" when it said "cash" as it really meant "money order". This meant the 2nd attempted delivery of the foil spinner aborted on Thursday afternoon.

On Friday, UPS Customer Support said the foil spinner was in its distribution depot at Trabue Road, so we went down to get it, accompanied by a money order.

After about half an hour at UPS on Trabue, we were told it was buried somewhere and wouldn't be scanned 'til Monday, when it would be re-delivered.

Monday. Monday we'll finally get it. We hope they accept money orders issued by United Dairy farmers, otherwise it's third strike and the spinner's being returned to the sender, Frances. Stay tuned.

Another Rear Label Photo Candidate.

This photo of us at Via Vecchia is another potential candidate that may end up on the rear label (see other candidate Here).

Again (left to right), Marty, Paolo, Anton and Michael.

PhotoShoot

This post was meant to be called something really great. Michael came up with it, but I forgot it. So, it's not great.

Anyway, Monday we had a photo shoot. We got together as a group for the photo for the back label of our bottles. It was all ironed white shirts in the heat and unfeasibly delicate glassware.

Michael was on time, and I think I can add, "for once".

From the photos below you'll see our props;

1 - mocked up bottles of Sangiovese/Pinot Noir and Bordeaux (former in Burgundy style bottle with the sloping shoulders, the latter in the other one);

2 - barrels - the barrels here are what contained our private stash of Sangiovese/Pinot Noir and Bordeaux;

3 - dangerous and nerve wrackingly delicate stemware, courtesy of a brave, or foolish (I cannot decide which), Anton. I mean, the life expectancy of glasses in the winery is shorter than that of WW1 pilots and he brings these along. By the way, what's the similarity between the stemware and the flextanks? They're both big! Look at the size of these glasses - they have bowls the size of your head.

Our photos were taken by Peteris Osis. Peteris is Moose Bend Images (peterisosis@gmail.com & http://www.moosebend.com/), specialising in landscape photography and kind enough to help us out.

This is Peteris.

Anyway, this is a potential candidate photo from the shoot which may feature on the rear label. Thanks to Michelle and Brian (of Mamapalooza post) for location.

And this is via Vecchia

(left to right as you view this)

Marty, Paolo, Anton, Michael

(this was slightly enlarged as it pixellated badly on loading - I think that's because Peteris' file is so big blogger couldn't handle the number of pixels at the original loaded size - I hope we don't get pixellation when this is reduced for the rear label)

Labels, Labels, Labels

Well, it really does seem like it's all about the label. We haven't even go to the point of bottle on the shelf and yet the label dominates the activity at the moment.

Front Label
We think we're done. However experience shoes there's always "something".

Back Label
Broke out of a Catch-22 situation by taking bull by horns and drawing up the back label ourselves. All we need do now if point to each design element of it and specify size, font etc etc etc.

Photo
Peter's on for Monday. That's when we go have our group photo taken for the back label. We may as well post it on the blog, as a preview type of thing - or should we reserve that for those who're on the email list?

Foil Spinner.
We're doing metal/foil caps so we've closed on a foil spinner. Used - obtained via the classifieds in Winebiz.com. An over-engineered piece of kit if ever there was one for what it does. At least we're bringing it in for well under the usual price.

Bordeaux bottling
Bottled more of the private bordeaux stash from 2005.

Labels and Bottle Filler

Bottle Filler.
The bottle filler arrived this week. It did not cost $1000, unlike almost every other piece of equipment. It is also, apart from our barrels, funnels, hoses, and demijons, our only piece of equipment not made of stainless steel or aircraft grade aluminium.
Since the winery board that met was at only half strength (Anton and I) we decided to try out the bottle filler. Michael was attending the funeral of someone who took part in a very significant piece of history and who didn't tell their story, and Marty was in a "busy", "may turn up later", "it will be late" kind of situation.
Anyway, this filler, which vacuum fills, treats the wine extremely gently as it fills bottles. It dispenses just enough wine for your size of bottle and the wine does not even foam as it goes in. We thought the fill level would differ with varying bottle sizes, but it didn't.
So we broke a 5gallon demijon of Bordeaux just as a trial run. We're always trying things for the first time otherwise so it made a change to practise first on a bucket of water, then on the Bordeaux.
It was a very civilised process. Very calming almost. And at the end the small amout of waste that was collected was just enough for a couple of glasses of wine.
I think the most impressive fact about this wine filler is that there was not a single drop of wine wasted during the bottling process!

Labels
We have agreed on the two label types we're going to be using consistently across our blends and varietals. We even have a different name for the Bordeaux. We could be at the printers by the end of June.

Molly.
Thanks for the photos. Very flattering - yeah right.
Actually there are some good ones and they're all fun.
Look out for them appearing now and again.

Of Friends and Fun

(This is Rob P (left) and Marty. When Rob P left for California in 2004, Marty was created to replace him. To avoid them being mistaken for each other Marty was given pinned-back-go-faster-ears and made to wear a cap)
Yet again we find ourselves just having too much fun!
Is such a thing possible!
How do we do it?
Remember a few posts back we asked where in the world was Rob P? Rob P who was meant to turn up for the BDX barrel break? Well turns out we were so happy to learn he was going to visit us from California that we all refused to read his email correctly when he told us that he could make it anytime except the day we planned. Anyway, Rob P showed up yesterday at the winery...and it turned out to be (naturally) one of those late night / early morning affairs.

There was also the added and delightful bonus of Molly. This is not to say Rob P isn't in himself a delight - I mean, we all love a wine critic, right. Molly wasn't quite sure about what we were about but as we toured the winery with her and explained what was happening and what we did, she settled in as it jived with what she had learned from a Discovery Channel programme about true/real winemaking.
Rob P and Molly showed up after we were just about done with winery business. Just as well. Which was:
1. Bottle Labeller.
The bottle labeller arrived. Ok, this probably needs a post of its own with pictures, but this piece of equipment has just got to be the world's most expensive inexpensive-looking product. I mean, it is very well made, with some very nice touches, but even so... If you want to check it out go visit Great Engineering and click on the BenchMATE product for demo and spec sheets. Thanks Greg for getting it to us all the way from Oz at a price cheaper than the US can provide and in a quicker timeframe too.
2. Bottle Filler.
This is on order and due in on 4th June.
3. Labels.
Real good progress here. We're just about to lock off on design format between designer and printer and have our label size worked out. We need to do the back label though.

Other business.
a) Wine tasting.
We tasted the BDX, now in its 13th month in the barrel. In the words of Borat, "You like."
b) Rob P and Molly.
Oh, that was just too much fun. We sampled the BDX, then went back and tried some 2004 and 2005 SanGiovese/PinotNoir.
We handled the Chambourcin with tact.
Needless to say we probably overdid the real wine propaganda, but hey, when you're passionate you can't stop yourself. And we hope Rob P and Molly enjoyed themselves too (guys, we'll send pictures and you can let us know which ones we can publish - Molly, we'd love the video of you naming your barrel and Rob P the one with your stylish headgear).
c) News from the frontLine of Wine Tasting.
After a tremendous campaign of endurance and self discipline in which no quarter was ever given, Mr. H of Westerville, possibly our biggest reader and, together with Mrs. H, the most gracious and generous of hosts, accidentally drank a 2004 Sangiovese/Pinot Noir. Any disappointment he may have felt upon the realisation of such a lapse in self-discipline that allowed the out-flanking of his long term strategy was then successfully countered with the satisfaction that he had drank something quite special and smooth. Well done, Sir!

Barrel Break

This will be brief. It's late.

So, Saturday. Where was Rob P? And how about the stress of a late arriving Joe without whose container Scott would be short a few gallons of our finest Bordeaux blend?
Despite all this and more, such as the multiple appearances of Mr Hankey (sp?, Michael?), the "Pink" branded sun hat, and ceremonies of dubious worth, the penultimate barrel of Bordeaux from 2005 was distributed.
Later that day we went to MamaPalooza, as we were invited and which will get its own post and video in due course. The best bit was the announcement from the stage that "Via Vecchia is in the House!" That was fun. But, as I say, more to come in a future post.
Quick Update on Winery business - we've committed on a labeller, label design is going great guns and we're enquiring about 2007 SanGiovese.
Are we having fun yet? Stupid question, course we are.
PS - anyone know who wont the Eurovision Song Contest?
And below, left to right on all three rows
Back row - Scott, James, John; Centre row - Paolo, Joe, Anton, Marty (yellow cap); Front Row - Linus (dog), Mike, Michael (with hat).

Everything in Moderation

[Candida resigned herself to sitting out the next hour as Cristina ranted on about how screw caps were ruining her cork sucking/cork chewing habit and were the work of The Dentist Devil. It was her own fault; she shouldn't have ordered Cristina the Fortified Grappa Cappucino. A bottle or two of Via Vecchia's fine wine would have been a far safer option].

Business-wise, we have our ThankYou cards printed up. Thanks, Michael, for getting another task off the list!
I think we need to sit down and list out who gets them as we've met quite a few people now who have been helpful and kind to us, not to mention those that are also sales leads.

Since we're still relatively small, it is Via Vecchia Winery's intention to do the customer experience to an extent not matched by any other winery. These thankyou cards will therefore feature in customer transactions too. Similarly with our labels, we hope to go beyond a simple printed label and individually number and/or autograph them.

This will also serve a practical purpose of tracking feedback on our wines from customers, who can then quote the label number back to us which will help in identifying the process or barrel of a particular wine bottle. And for those limited special wines, we'll do like the artists do and give the wine bottle its number out of the total number in the batch.

Feedback & Fun Time.
Yes, we'd love feedback and participation from you on the following;

a), a caption for the ladies above (best one to be published here); and
b), ways of improving or enhancing the wine experience of a customer (how would you like to interact with us after buying our wine?).

Technorati Tags:label creation, wine, winery, caption competition, via vecchia, winemaking,
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator

The "Business Side" of News

Michael here...I want to take time to update everyone on the "behind the scenes" of our winery with a business update.
While the wine was in production, we were all busy finalizing our logo. The logo appears to the right of our posts. Our logo creation was an exercise in the collaboration of ideas and creativity for us all. We learned so much about one another. It is amazing you can stand beside some people for years crushing grape and not really know how to work together to create something great.
We have come a long way and am so proud to know we persevered to be where we are today. In addition, I feel I am a better person for knowing each one of my partners through this project. So, we hope to take our "lessons learned", passion for the business and bottle it all up to make a product that you can be proud to serve.
After our logo was finalized, we began the process of creating a business card, thank you card and label creation. To assist us in our efforts with creativity, we have once again asked Kim James, graphic and photo designer, to employ her creative insight.
We as managing partners meet every week to discuss the state of our business and our next tasks. This week we will be meeting to discuss our complete sales cycle. "What will it take to move the wine from our barrel to your table?" We will update you along the way. In addition, we will be discussing the direct to consumer state shipping laws.
Many thanks to a great website source http://www.wineinstitute.org/ / Finally we hope to center more discussion around the customer intimacy to create an emotional connection.
By the way, we will continue to improve and succeed but only with customer insights and comments. PLEASE COMMENT!