More Wine

I've mentioned before that I really like a particular inexpensive Old Vine Zinfandel made by Twisted Cellars in California.   My local source said they couldn't get it anymore.  So I ordered it from a shop in another State that is willing to ship it UPS.  

I received 8 cases Tuesday (I'm a few days behind with posts here - too many different things going on lately).  They arrive in the sturdiest cardboard boxes you ever saw, and packed with styrofoam peanuts.  Which is great for shipping but messy to unpack.  

Well, I had to unpack them all first.  They idea of having styrofoam peanuts fall onto the basement floor everytime I pulled a bottle out was just too much routine cleaning for a basement.  So, anticipating that, I had driven the car  out of the garage so I had room to work.  

The shipping boxes are large.  Too large for efficient storage.  But I had saved the smaller wine boxes from the local seller.  I set up an assembly-line transfer from the shipping boxes to the smaller retail ones.  

It was a productive hour.  Shipping case uprighted and tape cut.  Pull bottles out and let the styrofoam fall to the floor.  Put the bottles into the old boxes (smaller, but they fit).  Carry the smaller boxes into the basement (cool enough for red wine).  Repeat...

Eventually I had all the bottles in smaller more-stackable boxes all set into a corner of the basement, 8 boxes with styrofoam, and styrofoam all over the garage floor.  A snow shovel is great for a large volume of light-weight stuff.  

A trash barrel was too large for the bags I had, so I used a bar-clamp to tighten the bag.  I dumped the styrofoam in the bag from both the shipping boxes and spills.  Filled it perfectly.

I now have 10-12 months worth of a liked wine all set in stored boxes.