The 2013 harvest wrapped up in mid-October and since then our focus has been on the release of our first vintage – the Fairsing Vineyard 2012 Pinot noir.

The entire process of getting this vintage from the barrel (where it aged 14 months) and into wine bottles has been interesting and we thought we would share a few highlights.

The first and most crucial step has involved the design and approval of our label(s) for the bottle.

Our Fairsing Vineyard label was designed by Hillary Berg and was then taken through the government approval process by Chris Noud of Now Designs.

Chris teamed up with Michelle Lytle of CCL Label in Portland, OR and produced a beautiful high-quality label Fairsing Vineyard will be proud to affix to this first vintage.

Working with Michelle at CCL Label was a delight and their digital offset process not only generates prints quickly, it does so with little waste.

On October 31st we were invited to the CCL facility to review proofs, final color and provide print approval. After a few minor changes, the digital printing process started and we were fortunate to watch as our Fairsing Vineyard 2012 Pinot noir labels were printed. The process was fascinating to witness and the final product gratifying to hold in our hands.

The labels (both front and back) were rolled, boxed and delivered to Fairsing Vineyard within a week.

It has been an educational process printing our first labels and we would have been lost without the guidance and good humor of our industry partners.

With the labels complete and the bottling process scheduled for the first week of December, we navigated the ordering of corks, capsules, boxes and bottles. When “Bottling Day” arrived, we had all of our supplies and helping hands to assist.

More on our bottling adventures to be shared soon.

Mary Ann and Mike McNally
Fairsing Vineyard