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Exciting Things for October!

September is beginning to wind down and crush here at the winery is nearly done. All of us are looking forward to a fun and exciting October!

Here is what is on schedule:

October 6th – Our last Blues & Wine of the season will feature not one but two of our favorite bands! Starting at 3pm, Blue Mother Tupelo will be rocking the house with their delta blues. Then starting at 6pm Chicago Charlie and The Businessmen will take it on home until 9pm. BBQ plates will be available for purchase ( Pork and Brisket!! Yum!). Bring a chair and a friend and come on out and have a great time!!

October 21st – Jodie will be demonstrating some classic Fall recipes in the pavilion. The cooking class will be from 2pm-4pm and admission is free! Call to reserve your spot today!

October 27th – The same folks who brought you this past Spring’s Hickman County Arts & Ag Tour are hosting the Arts & Ag Harvest Market at Grinder’s Switch Winery! This fun festival will be a great time to bring out the family and enjoy live music, great food, local artisans, local farmers, and even a hayride through the vineyard! Admission is free! The Harvest Market will run from 10am – 6pm!

As you can see there a lot of great reasons to come visit us! So mark your calendars!

Bottling it all up…

Bottling is a process that we do year round here at the winery. There is always wine in the tanks that is in different stages of readiness and bottling any wine that is ready is a priority. The problem with bottling is that it’s time-intensive and it takes a large number of people to do it efficiently. For the last several years we have been lucky enough to have lots of friends who are willing to come out in the early morning hours and help us get our products on the shelf, but it is not always easy for us to round up enough people to get a good bottling going. Plus, it can take hours to do a palette of wine.

That’s why when the Hamm’s of Keg Springs came up with an automated bottling truck we were excited. Gerald, Brian and Becky Hamm designed a little mini factory to fit into the back of a truck the size of a moving van so that the wineries in the area could take advantage of a streamlined, efficient system and save everyone a little time and frustration.

The Hamm's of Keg Springs

This unassuming truck houses a bottle sanitizer, bottle filler, labeler and heat shrinker for the capsules that go over the neck. Not to mention the moving track that feeds the bottles down a line to someone packing cases and taping them up.

Mobile Bottling Truck

Of course there are always a few kinks to work out in the beginning, but once this puppy gets rolling, the time it takes to bottle up a couple of tanks full of wine is drastically reduced. Leaving us free to do other things, like make more wine.

Bottles going in...

Bottles going in...

The whole process is pretty fun to watch and we are excited to have it available to us.

Filling up and getting labeled

Bottles going out.