High Hopes

At Lunch:
I have high hopes of leaving work DRY today. However, my dreams are likely to be crushed after we finish bottling the 200 cases of Merlot this afternoon. Our assistant winemaker will set me to work cleaning the tanks, I just know it. Today we emptied several tanks, bottling our two single-vineyard pinot noirs and our merlot.
Bottling went smoothly this morning. We only broke two bottles. Last week, well, let's not talk about last week.  Let's just say machines don't always do what you want them to do and glass is breakable.
Anywho, bottling went smoothly. Thank goodness. Stress during bottling I think must affect the wine. I'm pretty sure I'm a little crazy because my mother was stressed when she was pregnant with me. It's the same thing, right? These wines are our children. And we play music to them, too, like the doctors recommend when women are pregnant. Except our wines don't hear only Mozart. They hear everything from classical to classic rock to folk. Makes for wines with structure and character.
When we bottle, I put on the capsules, those annoying things at the top that are a pain to get off but make the bottle look oh so pretty. It gets rather dull, but at least I can (kind of) hear the music. Putting on capsules is the best job for me, though, considering I can hardly lift a case of wine, which is kind of a handicap in the wine industry. Ah well. Anyone want to be my personal trainer?
Also this morning, before bottling, our winemaker checked the sulfite levels in the wine. Sulfites will not kill you, I promise. Read my research paper - I had to write one last semester. I promise you sulfites are not evil. Rather, they preserve the wines. The test for sulfite levels involves a color change. This is fine for white wines. Reds, it's a little more difficult. You have to be able to detect when the red wine gets darker. I tested them yesterday, but I wasn't really too sure. Especially the merlot - it is already quite dark. A beautiful color, really., It'll be released in November. You should check it out. I was pleasantly surprised when the winemaker got similar results this morning.
As we bottled, several customers watched from the tasting room. I wonder what they were thinking. Would someone like to let me in on their secrets?

Evening:
We got all the merlot in bottles. I helped in the tasting room. Come by, it's a great time. I love talking to the customers and I think they like talking to me. Or they love the wine. Or both. Let's say both.
I was so close to leaving work dry when it started raining. Darn! My car windows are open! Well, I was in the middle of a tasting with some customers, an older couple, their adult son, and his (very good, according to the mother) girlfriend. I wasn't about to interrupt. So, I finished the tasting. I ran to my car to close my windows. Game over. I got wet. So, might as well clean the tanks.
I drove home in wet jeans, as usual.