GP and Riccardo corking the bottles

Here we go a wassailing  bottling .......  Last night GP took me along while he went bottling with some friends.  As a group they had purchased 4 demijohns of Nebbiolo from an old farmer, (for all I know he's 60 but so pickled looks 80), who produces in very small quantities.  He doesn't have automatized  bottling equipment so the guys had to do it in the good old fashioned way.  I went along "to document" the process.  And drink some wine.  And eat some food.

Old guy with demijohns and stacks of bottles

A tube is used for filling the magnums.

It starts with the demijohns that hold 54 liters each.  A bottle is .75 liters so that is a lot of vino.  We should have had 144 magnums, (1.5 liters or two bottles), but came up short as there was a wee bit of pilfering going on.

After filling the bottles, they are corked and then the label goes on.  Our friend Riccardo had these adhesive labels made up.  It's a picture of (or by) Teomondo Scrofalo, an unknown artist whose painting has been reproduced and sold in poster form to a million bars and hotels.  It is also the name taken by a famous and foolish Italian comic which is why they chose it.  By coincidence, Teomondo Scrofalo also looks just like our host!

Boxing ém up

It was colder than a witch's t** in there so we were all bundled up and had to warm the wine up with our hands before drinking it.  Most irritating but we managed.  We had a little buffet on an old wooden bench with cheeses, salamis, ham and raw sausage.  Yes, they eat raw sausage.  I, however, do not.  I made up for it in bread.

Food!!

By the end of the night things were getting rough.

I'm glad I went to see the process but it's definitely a boys club.  I was in fact the only woman there.  They pretty much ignored me which was fine as they were doing all the work.  Next year GP can go without me.  I'll stay home and warm and await the delivery.

criminal evidence

The night ended with the "breaking of the sealing wax", which means our host, (never did learn his name), brought out a magnum bottled a few years ago.  The wine we bought should be aged a bit before we drink it.  We'd been sipping at it all night but was a little too "fresh".  I forced myself.

The last hurrah.

GP drove home.  xxoo me