Wine about it!

**Okay, so I totally got called on not posting this sooner.  I know, I'm a loser...lol.  No excuse for not posting this on time, besides just being lazy.  So Jordan this one's for you, kid!

Our wine is finally ready!  And it's time to party!  Well, sort of.  We called it a party and provided food so that people would come and help us bottle it.  Pretty smart, eh?

Okay, so it was Greg's (The owner of Oeno Winemaking) idea...lol.  Still it worked out pretty nicely.  Everyone had fun bottling and drinking wine.  Not to mention munching on the freshly hand-made by yours truely pizzas.

Zac, Storm, Jordan, and La'akea digging in before getting to work.

 The spread.  Pepperoni and roasted garlic pizza and prosciutto and arugula pizza.  With a glass of wine, delish!
*Secret confession:  I was slightly obsessed with making pizza at this time.  I made pizza after pizza a few weekends before this party to get it just right.  I'm a dork, this I already know.  The result of my crazy massive pizza making weekends, a damn tasty authentic Italian style pizza...lol.
 (I can share the pizza recipe if you all would like.  Just hit me up with a comment to and I'll put it on my list of posts to write.)

Wine bottling 101:

Step 1: Fill the bottles with wine up to the bottle neck. 

*Note: Go slow or risk getting wine on your clothes, or worse, spilling it all over the floor.  Wasted wine = Sad Christmas.

All of the men felt like this was a very manly man job to do and took it upon themselves to take on the task.

 Speaking of men at work.  I had to take a picture.  It's a rarity that none of us women had to jump in to rescue someone from either getting injured, dirty, or otherwise making a mess.  Hehehe...it had to be said, but I mean it in the most loving way.

Who am I to stand in the way of men wanting to work?

Shh...just don't tell them that I didn't really want to do that job anyways...lol.

 Adam filling bottles.

 The hubby hard at work.

 The key is to make it look like you really know what you are doing.

 Jenna keeping an eye on things for me at the bottle filling station.

Step 2: Top off the bottles with just a bit more wine so as not to leave too much air between the cork and the wine itself.

You can see La'akea in the background topping off bottles.

Step 3: Put a cork in it!

 That, my friends, is a corking machine.  It looks pretty scary, but is quite easy to use.  Just be sure to keep your fingers out of the way.

Jordan jumped in there to prove that girls can do it too!

When it's all corked you should be left with this product, as modeled by the lovely Jordan.

Step 4: Apply the plastic cork wrapper.

For all you crafters out there, it's kind of like using shrink wrap.  You place the plastic tubing over the top of the bottle.  Heat it with a heat gun, being sure to turn it every now and then, until it shrinks to the form of the bottle.

By the way, Storm was the master at this.  Everyone else who tried ended up having theirs redone by him because theirs came out all bubbly.  I like your perfectionist ways, Storm!

Step 5: Slap a label on it and be done!

 This turned out to be my department.  What can I say?  I have mad label placing skills.

 Look at all those labels that I needed to place on.  Guess who had the team on her back?  Me, that's who.  Lol...just kidding guys!

 The A-team over there.  Best label putter-oner and best shrinky-dinkinker.  Oh yeah!

Step 6: Drink and be merry!

Our finished bottle.  Isn't it pretty?

Post bottling.  We seem to look a lot happier now...lol.  

Thanks to everyone who helped us bottle and partake in the festivities.  Special thanks to Greg and the Oeno crew for the awesome brewing experience.  We had a blast!