Back in the day while working in the cellars of Michel Schlumberger, where Mike is still the head winemaker and vineyard manager (oh yeah…he was my boss), I used to do a lot of topping this time of year. MS makes quite a bit more wine than our 600-700 cases. Topping is when you replace the small amount of wine that has evaporated or been sampled for analysis or (quite often) for tasting. This definitely qualifies as a non-glamorous part of wine work. It’s pretty cold in the cellar this time of year, when it’s damp and chilly outside. You can get a little banged up too, climbing racks and bumping up next to the barrels so often. But it’s also one of those moments in winemaking that is really zen-like, following a defined process for each lot. Washing, rinsing, washing, rinsing, topping, washing, breaking down, washing, rinsing.  You get into a groove, where you mind goes blank and you just concentrate on the moment and the next steps just flow.  You can easily spend an entire day lost in the cellar like this. I like getting to touch and smell every barrel, shepherding each one along its way.

To top, you start out by siphoning wine from a 59 gallon barrel, usually older, and putting it into a pressurized 5 gallon keg, like the kind you see used for soda. Then you methodically wash around the bungs on each barrel you are going to top with hot water and a brush. Then you rinse down the barrels. Then you remove each bung and give it a good wash/rinse too and place them back on the barrels, being careful not to put the business end of the bung on the wood. Now you’re ready to top. At MS, where we make VERGE, we have about 40 barrels from 2008 & 2009 vintage that need topping so Mike or I (usually Mike) move slowly along our row and top each barrel until they are just full. Careful not to spill any wine. After we’ve topped, we replace the bung and make sure it’s good and tight.  Then we wash the barrels down again.  Now it’s time to account for how much wine we used and breakdown the barrel into smaller containers like half barrels, 15 gallon kegs and 5 gallon carboys to use for next time.  Then you have to wash your empty barrel and clean up any spills that happened while breaking down.  Lots of cleaning always! Don’t forget to tag your breakdown, so you know what in there.

While not the most exciting part of the winemaking process, topping does allow us to keep a close eye (and nose) on our wines while they age, protect them against exposure to oxygen and minimize any chances of microbial spoilage. And to top, you definitely need a good soundtrack.  Here’s how I roll -