This is the final act in winemaking, but that does not mean that ageing has finished; many wines take months or even years of further rest in the bottle to mature.
This is a delicate and important operation; the maximum hygiene and least possible contact with air are the two rules to follow. Now all bottling plants are equipped with machines which can fill and cork the bottles (as well as labelling and fitting the capsule), guaranteeing that the product is as well protected as possible. There are also bottling machines especially for sparkling and semi-sparkling wines; these are specially designed to avoid loss of carbon dioxide and mousse formation.
Bottling is also a guarantee for the consumer; the bottler's name and place where the bottling was done must be shown by law. In this way it is possible to see whether the wine was bottled directly at the vineyard where it was produced or whether the wine was bought from other producers and only bottled by the cellar which sells it.