Decanting Day!

Lou's Wine. The best home made wine ever! (ok, the only homemade wine I've ever had) Stephen's father in law - Lou, got the family hooked on making wine. So, Scott, his brother Stephen, and his dad all chip in to make wine with Lou every year. In the fall, we crush the grapes, stir for 2 weeks and get it in the barrels. Then in the spring, we decant it! We line up the clean bottles and demi john's and siphon out the wine. There's lots of QA sampling to make sure it came out right!

Our little helper, Eric

Even Auntie Sue helped! Too bad she and Steve put the barrel on the hand truck with the open hole down so it spilled all over the basement floor! (The stain is still there)

All bottled up.

Time to clean! In order to clean the barrels, you need take a chain that is hooked to a wooden bar. You drop the chain in the barrel, add water and shake it around. Scott's been in charge of barrel cleaning for a few years now. After tasting, I think it is his favorite part. 

All the hard work is done - time to enjoy some wine and head up stairs for some lunch!