Bottle Labels – 2023
Wines Bottled in 2023
Note: These labels are from wines bottled in 2023, not started in 2023.
We made 2 wines using FWK Tavola Merlot kits — to one we added the pomace for 8 lugs of Grenache, and added the pomace from 8 lugs of Tempranillo to the other. This was a successful experiment that we will repeat. The wines are true wines, not second run wines.
Since this is another collaboration with Eric, we (as usual) made 2 different labels — one with his logo and one with mine.
After bottling the Merlot/Grenache, I had the urge and bottled a 4 liter “Frankenwine”. At the last racking when the 2022 wines went into barrel, we had dribs and drabs of various wines that didn’t fit in larger containers, so I just dumped it all into a 4 liter jug. I think this one is over half Merlot/Grenache, but it’s got at least a bit of everything we made last fall in it.
We had a difference of opinion on the background graphic for the Merlot/Tempranillo. We solve the problem by using both graphics. There’s no rule that says the labels have to use the same background graphic, so the two labels are very different.
Note that this is not a problem, as I love designing labels.
In November we bottled the Grenache and the Tempranillo. The original plan was to bottle the Grenache with some of the Rhone Blend (1 lug each Mourvedre, Petite Sirah, and Syrah), and possibly blend some of that into the Tempranillo. Any of the Rhone Blend left over would be bottled as-is.
We taste tested the Tempranillo first, discovering we liked it as-is, but also liked it with 5% of the Rhone Blend. So … we did both, bottling 3 cases of straight Tempranillo and the remainder as the 5% blend.
I found several images of Spanish dancers, and while we disagreed on which was best, we agreed all were good. So we used one dancer for the straight Tempranillo:
And we used the other for the 5% Blend.
In hindsight, I wish I had made the “5%” part more prominent.
We conducted two tastings for the Grenache. The first was 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% Rhone Blend. As with the Tempranillo, we decided we liked the straight Grenache, so we bottled 3 cases of it.
Then we conducted a further test with 25%, 30%, and 35% Rhone blend, and the 25% came out on top.
When done, we had a bit more than 1/2 gallon each of the Grenache and Rhone Blend, so we just mixed them and bottled half a case. I didn’t put any effort into this label, as we only had 6 bottles.
