A behind-the-scenes look at Naked Mountain
Winery & Vineyards, a small winery in Northern
Virginia, on bottling day, when wine goes from
the large barrels where it is stored to the
attractive bottles that are sold to wine
lovers.
Bottling day at Naked Mountain Winery & Vineyards
near Front Royal, Va., was cold and windy,
despite the sunshine. March 21, 2013.
(WTOP/Heather Brady)
WTOP/Heather Brady
Seth Chambers, Naked Mountain's winemaker, grabs
a test bottle of the white wine Naked Mountain
was bottling to sample its contents. The winery
bottled three wines that day - a viognier, a
riesling and a blend of chardonnay and riesling.
(WTOP/Heather Brady)
WTOP/Heather Brady
Jim Moose, a volunteer, rests his hands on a box of empty bottles as he waits to send them down the conveyor belt and into the bottling trailer to be filled with wine. (WTOP/Heather Brady)
WTOP/Heather Brady
The winemaker, winery workers and volunteers take a lunch break in the warmth of the winery's sampling room and shop. (WTOP/Heather Brady)
WTOP/Heather Brady
Brian Smith, the bottling operations assistant,
describes how Mark Lacy, operations manager of
Virginia Wine Bottling, sliced his finger open on
the previous day while checking the bottling
machinery. One of Lacy's neighbors visited Lacy
to be sure he was okay. (WTOP/Heather Brady)
WTOP/Heather Brady
Wine bottles make their way around the trailer,
stopping at various points to be filled, capped
and labeled. (WTOP/Heather Brady)
WTOP/Heather Brady
Smith reaches across Lacy and checks the machinery that spaces the wine bottles before labeling them. (WTOP/Heather Brady)
WTOP/Heather Brady
Empty bottles are nestled in a box, waiting to be
sent down the conveyor belt. (WTOP/Heather Brady)
WTOP/Heather Brady
Lacy checks the labels on a wine bottle to be
sure they are evenly applied. (WTOP/Heather
Brady)
Chambers shines a flashlight into the barrel
that stored the wine before bottling day as the
last bit of wine drains out of the bottom.
(WTOP/Heather Brady)
WTOP/Heather Brady
Chambers follows the last of the wine as it
snakes through the tube that carried it all into
the bottling trailer. (WTOP/Heather Brady)
WTOP/Heather Brady