My 2012 post on
Bottling at Domaine Ribiera at Aspiran described a lego-kit family and friends bottling line. This year, to explore an alternative, the faster but more expensive approach of a full-scale bottling lorry was taken.
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| Enormous lorry complete with pop-out sides |
Like the lego-kit operation at least 7 people are needed, although four come with the lorry. The benefit is speed with up to 1 bottle a second which is three times faster.
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| The grab arm feeds a whole row of bottles at a time |
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| Everything is computerised |
Once the bottles are loaded, everything is automated under computer control except packing the bottles into cases - a job needing two professionals to keep up.
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| Checking the white Terret for clarity |
Boxes are manually loaded onto palets and a fork-lift truck whisks them away to the cave.
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| Régis Pichon and David Caer (Clos Mathelisse) loading boxes onto palets |
Graham. We went to a terrific wine bar / restaurant in Béziers today (Pas Comme les Autres in Place Madeleine) and I ordered the white from Ribiera. As luck had it Régis and Christine then came in and we enjoyed a glass together whilst we chatted. A lovely couple and I shall certainly be looking them up
ReplyDeleteAlan - it's a small world as they say. Will definitely pay Pas Comme les Autres a visit in the autumn. Let me know when you plan to visit Ribiera, perhaps we can meet up.
ReplyDeleteThat would be good Graham. I've just 'friended' you on Facebook and will keep you up to date! By the way how much is the English language being tortured by the interent, friended indeed :(
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