Corks, Bottles, Label & Good Times!

After a hectic week at work, I kicked off the weekend in the company of my wife; good friend Jason, his fiancee Megan; and co-worker Karrie. We had met at Oak, Wine & Barrel in Coquitlam to bottle our three different varieties of wines which consisted of Kendall Ridge Merlot, Kendall Ridge Sauvignon and a Gewurztraminer.

Our interest in wine began nearly six-years ago. After meeting my wife in 1999, we began actively collecting various samples of wines which were native to various vacation destinations. Since successfully u-brewing our first batch in 2002, my wife and I have become increasingly interested in wine making.

My decision to organize the brewery group was precipitated following the visit of my wine-loving grandfather late last year. During his three week visit, my wife and I hosted countless family functions at our new home. During which, our proud wine collection of over twenty five-plus bottles were reduced to three. We immediately sprang into emergency mode during late-2005 as we needed to quickly re-stock our depleted collection. Why? We discovered my wife's pregnancy and are anticipating endless visits by out of town family/guests to celebrate the birth of my first child.

I was amazed that the process only took us 45 minutes to complete from washing and sterilizing the bottles to capping and labelling them. After completing all 91 bottles, the wines were quickly loading into the back of my car and brought back to my home. Our plan is to organize a meet up at my place this Monday evening for sampling and division of the three batches. Already, several of us have begun discussing plans to brew several batches of alcoholic coolers/lemonades later this spring.