A lot of bottling is done in February throughout the wine region. Leslie is helping Ornella bottle her Rose, Chardonnay and Dolcetto. To speed up the process Ornella brings in a mobile bottling rig. At 1500 to 2000 Thousand bottles per hour once everything is set up things can be a little hectic but the day sure goes by fast, The bottles are loaded into cages that hold about 450 bottles then back into the winery for the next step labelling.
Four bottles at a time it's amazing how fast you go through a pallet of bottles which hold about 1300 bottles.


With the lights of Neive in the background the last bottles are loaded at 8:30 after almost 15,000 bottles of wine the job is done.

The main square in Montpellier even in February theres lots of activity
Their people mover in action, a great way to get around this town of 255,000.

Apparently 50° clears out the square after dinner
Lots to see in this town made for walkers

Wouldn't be France with out a Triumphal arch
Wow the Saint Clément Aqueduct built in the 18th century.

We fell in love with a new wine region (new to us) thanks to our friend bill who along with his wife escaped from Minnesota to southern France.
Bill knows the area well making it very easy to find good producers and their wines.

Robert showing off his new 400mm lens.

Robert likes to spend his birthday in new places this year it's Montpellier France on the way stopped for a couple of days in Menton France just over the border from Italy.

The best view of town is from the old cemetery on top of the hill over looking every thing, not a bad resting place.

Aperitivo on the shore, perfect for a February birthday

Leslie found a great spice shop at the daily market more curry!!!!

Found the smallest, cutest, coolest wine bar on the way to dinner.

Really no photo-shop on this sunrise.
As we were leaving the town was setting up for their annual lemon festival.