We are about to bottle our 2012 Pinot Noir, if all goes well before the end of February.  It will have aged 17 months and is ready to go into bottles, where it will sit for 2-3 months to prevent “bottle shock” and then ready to drink.

The first task in designing your bottle is picking a bottle shape.  The picture below are the bottles I considered.  In the old days you could tell the wine by the bottle shape without looking at the label…but not anymore.  It really does not matter what shape you put it in as it will age the same.

So…bottles come in different heights, bottom diameters, weights, neck sizes, label areas, punts sizes and country of origin just to name a few.  I wanted a US made bottle that had a fatter bottom with a standard size top for the tin capsule but a thick top line, but not to heavy and was available locally for me to pick up.  Just a side note…they have asked people to taste the same wine in different bottles and the one with the more expensive looking bottle always tastes better.

I narrowed the list to the two bottles above and the one of the right won and it will be paired with a standard matte black tin capsule!