Working my first harvest in Oregon 2024.

Last fall, I did something I never thought I’d do, I worked a wine harvest. Not from the sidelines, not as an observer, but right there in the thick of it cleaning tanks, sampling, sorting fruit and even helping with blending trials. I didn’t pick grapes (turns out, that’s its own brutal art form), but I did just about everything else, thanks to the incredible generosity of Tracy Kendall at Folly of Man in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

It was messy, physical, humbling, and absolutely thrilling. I came away with sore muscles, purple-stained hands, and a deeper respect for the craft than any wine tasting could ever offer.

Winemaker Alison Moyes with the just bottled 2024 Chardonnay.

But even as the last tank was pressed off and the cellar began to quiet down, I knew I was only just beginning to understand the life of a wine. So when winemaker Alison Moyes of Solvero Wines in Summerland, BC invited me to join her team for bottling, I jumped at the chance. Their 2022 Chardonnay was recently crowned Best White Wine in Canada at the All Canadian Wine Championships, and this time, they were sealing up the 2024 vintage.

I’ve long admired Alison’s work, having interviewed her several times for our blog. Her technical expertise (she’s both a formally trained winemaker and sommelier) is matched by an intuitive, restrained touch that allows the Okanagan’s high-altitude fruit to take centre stage.

The estate vineyard almost ready for harvest.

At Solvero, she’s crafting wines that feel like they belong on the world stage but still taste like home. Getting to work alongside her for this final chapter of the winemaking process felt like the natural continuation of my unexpected education.

While bottling may not sound exciting for most people, Alison admits it’s one of her favourite moments in the year: “Aside from harvest, it’s one of the most exciting days. It’s the culmination of [in the case of our 2024 Chardonnay] two seasons of work, from the growing season to fermentation to ageing. It feels pretty good to get this into bottle.”

For the 2024 Chardonnay, there’s an added twist.

The mobile bottling truck.

Because Solvero had no harvest last year, Alison sourced fruit from Oregon’s Chehalem Mountains AVA: “It’s made in a very similar style, but from a vineyard block that mirrors what we do here—high elevation, western aspect, cooler climate. And it’s 100% barrel fermented, mostly in neutral oak, which is key for our Chardonnay.”

Bottling may be the last leg of the marathon, but it’s hardly the easiest. At Solvero, the team brought in BC Vintage Wine Services, whose state-of-the-art mobile bottling line rolls up in a custom-designed truck. Step inside and you find a miniature factory, where precision and pace rule the day.

The start of the bottling line.

Owner Justin Skladan walked me through each stage: The bottles begin their journey by being sterilized, ensuring nothing interferes with the wine. A quick puff of nitrogen clears out any lingering oxygen—because even the smallest contact can dull freshness.

From there, the Chardonnay flows in, filling each bottle with exacting consistency. Labels are pressed on, foils crimped neatly into place, and the finished bottles march down the line to be boxed, sealed, and stacked.

My role came near the end: I placed the first six bottles into each case, while Solvero team member Gabriel slid in the final six before nudging the box toward sealing. The work was repetitive and physical, yet strangely meditative. Every motion had its rhythm, every case its completion. And because BC Vintage Wine Services ran such a seamless operation, everything moved with clockwork efficiency.

President & Vineyard Manager Matt Sartor stacking the finished cases.

There’s a rhythm to bottling once you find it. A quiet focus. It reminded me of grape sorting back in Oregon: physical but meditative. We were sealing up the 2024 Chardonnay, a wine with big shoes to fill after the 2022’s win, but Alison wears confidence lightly. She trusts her vineyard and her team, and it shows.

As I stood at the end of that bottling line, I couldn’t help but compare this moment to my time in Oregon.

There, everything was urgent, messy, alive. Here, there was calm coupled with a quiet sense of satisfaction. The wine had already told its story; we were just giving it a final form. But the through-line was unmistakable: the people.

Both Tracy and Alison are women who bring intellect and instinct in equal measure to their work.

The final product ready for shipping.

Both are forging paths in regions still defining their own identities. And both generously pulled back the curtain to let someone like me—curious, underqualified, grateful—peek inside the process.

What started as a one-time harvest adventure has turned into something much more layered. I don’t know yet where this hands-on journey will lead me, but I do know this: every bottle I now open feels a little more alive. I see the hands behind it. I remember the early mornings, the sticky hands, and the teamwork it takes to get wine into the glass.

And I’ll never look at a foil capsule the same way again.

Cheers to learning, to leaping, and to letting wine take you places you never expected.