# Labels



## GaDawg

Do y'all buy or print your own labels. Where do you get them and/or what program do you use? Have you found a good free program?


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## Masbustelo

I'm to cheap to buy them on line, and not clever enough to make them myself, so I use these. http://freelabelmaker.com/category/beverages/wine/red/page/2/


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## wpt-me

I use an old program called Print Shop (Broderbund ??). Then Have Office Depot Print them on Avery #22827 labels.

Bill


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## pillswoj

I design mine in Scribus (Free desktop publishing software) then print with a color Laser onto Avery removable labels .


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## Boatboy24

I like Stoney Creek Wine Press, but will also use Avery Labels and their template to make my own. Take it to Staples for some nice color laser prints.


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## GaDawg

wpt-me said:


> I use an old program called Print Shop (Broderbund ??). Then Have Office Depot Print them on Avery #22827 labels.
> 
> Bill



Bill, what do you think about Avery #5164? They are 3.1/3X4 and you get 6 labels per page.


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## bstnh1

I buy only Winexpert kits from Labelpeelers and get the labels they have to go with them. They're from LD Carlson and the latest ones are vinyl and peel off easily and leave virtually no residue on the bottle. Makes life a lot easier. They cost $5.99/30 - about 20 cents a bottle.


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## Burton Kent

I design my own labels in photoshop. Buy 4x6 prints for $.09 from Walmart and use a school glue stick because it's easy to wash off. Stick the bottles in the dishwasher - done.





I do have access to a color laser printer, but cutting the labels generally is more trouble than it's worth.


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## GaDawg

bstnh1 said:


> I buy only Winexpert kits from Labelpeelers and get the labels they have to go with them. They're from LD Carlson and the latest ones are vinyl and peel off easily and leave virtually no residue on the bottle. Makes life a lot easier. They cost $5.99/30 - about 20 cents a bottle.


I also use them, but sometimes I need something special. It sounds like Avery is the way to go!


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## Scott Harbison

I haven't made or bought any labels yet, but I do like the professional look that I've seen on Stoney Creek. I've mocked up a few and they look great. So I may go that direction first.
How good do the Avery labels look? Can someone share some pictures? I know there's a LABELS thread, but not sure it tells us how they were made.


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## GreenEnvy22

I buy postage labels that are 2x4" each, 10 per page.
You can use a free online app like Google slides or similar. I use ms publisher.

Like these:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0725R1YX6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## Johnd

Scott Harbison said:


> I haven't made or bought any labels yet, but I do like the professional look that I've seen on Stoney Creek. I've mocked up a few and they look great. So I may go that direction first.
> How good do the Avery labels look? Can someone share some pictures? I know there's a LABELS thread, but not sure it tells us how they were made.



All of my wines since 16 are the Avery labels, wifey does all of the design and printing at home.


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## GreenEnvy22

This bottle has been in the fridge for a coupe weeks so it's banged up a bit, but this is how mine look.


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## Bts

How easily do the avery labels come off? I've been using laser printer on standard printer paper and a glue stick. Cutting and gluing takes a bit more time than I'd prefer on the front end, but they look pretty good and come off *super* easy. Wet the label first, double rinse the inside, put the label back under the faucet and just rub it for a second or two with your palm and the label and all the glue come right off. I've tested some of the labels included with the cheap fontana kits and they're too much of a pain to remove.


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## GreenEnvy22

So far I've just stuck another identical label over top (I just change the name and % in the wood board from wine to wine, rest of label is the same.
I'm planning in using removable ones next time I need to order labels, to see how they work.
I'll probably get these: https://www.onlinelabels.com/products/OL125WR.htm?src=mp-445
3 cents per label is pretty good.


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## Bts

Ha, simple solution for the win


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## Johnd

Bts said:


> How easily do the avery labels come off? I've been using laser printer on standard printer paper and a glue stick. Cutting and gluing takes a bit more time than I'd prefer on the front end, but they look pretty good and come off *super* easy. Wet the label first, double rinse the inside, put the label back under the faucet and just rub it for a second or two with your palm and the label and all the glue come right off. I've tested some of the labels included with the cheap fontana kits and they're too much of a pain to remove.



I use the Avery 22827 labels, you peel a corner up with a fingernail and peel it right off, doesn't leave any residue or glue. The labels are vinyl, peel and stick to to your bottles, withstand complete submersion in water, don't come off, ink doesn't fade or run, pretty much the best product we've ever used from application to removal.


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## Trevor7

StoneyCreek is definitely the way to go - outstanding service and quality. The downside is that it adds ~$1.30 per bottle in small quantities.


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## JustJoe

I use Google slides to design them and I print them on plain paper with an ink jet printer. They look great and cost about 3 cents per label. Also, I use milk to stick them on. I have a saucer of ordinary milk and I slide the back of the label across the milk and place it on the bottle. Once it's dry it stays there even with rough handling and a quick rinse is all it takes to remove them.


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## wpt-me

GaDawg : Sorry I'm away on weekends. I just read your Question, have not looked at any others.

Bill


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## sugar

Masbustelo said:


> I'm to cheap to buy them on line, and not clever enough to make them myself, so I use these. http://freelabelmaker.com/category/beverages/wine/red/page/2/


Yep,
There's a large selection and should meet any need.
However, you will find your own way.
Personalize your wine lable. ..


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## montanarick

I have found that the vinyl labels from sheetlabels.com, item #RXW "Removable White Polyester Weatherproof (laser)" labels work very well. They are waterproof and are easily pealed off allowing them to easily be removed and/or re-positioned and come four to a sheet at 3.75"x4.75". I simply take them to Staples to be printed on their laser printer.


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## Noontime

For online labels, stoney creek does make nice labels. Noontime Labels (my company) also has removable labels and might a be a little cheaper, and we have hundreds of designs to choose from.

There's a full spectrum of choices depending on what you want it to look like, how much work you want to put into it, and how frugal you want to be. Print it out on copy paper and use a glue stick, or as Boatboy24 said, bring your design to Staples, FedEx store etc to have them print. The benefit of online stores like mine or stoney creek is you get professional designs and professional printing on good materials; but that's definitely going to cost more than copy paper, scissors, and glue stick.


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## Alex101

How about these labels from Amazon Basics?
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B074KQYB5W/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 
They are $32 for 600 labels or 0.05 per label. 
I am thinking to try...


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## Noontime

Onlinelabels.com has good products too, and also has removable adhesive options. Any address label is probably going to be very similar in weight and quality with permanent adhesive, so I would just go by price.


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## sour_grapes

No one has chimed in, but lots of people report good luck with certain Avery labels. Try googling: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=site:winemakingtalk.com+avery

(I put it into lmgtfy.com only because the colon in the above address is interpreted as a smilie by this forum.)


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## ibglowin

I purchase the waterproof peel off laser print labels from online labels dot com. I also use their Maestro Label Designer software (online) as well.


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## Minnesotamaker

I go really simple. I print labels about 16 to a page using a simple word processor software on regular colored paper, cut the labels into strips, wrap them around the neck of the bottle, and then glue or tape the label to itself. This makes a neck band that tears right off when the wine is empty. I include a name for the wine, the type of wine, the date it was produced, temp it should be served, the alcohol content, and food pairing suggestions. I like this style because: 

I don't like cleaning labels off bottles, I did it once to get the bottle; I don't need to create more work for myself
The neck bands make identification really easy in the wine racks. I don't have to pull bottles from the rack when looking for a favorite
These labels are cheap and easy
These labels don't cover up the beauty of the wine inside


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## winemaker81

I've been using Avery Design & Print, a free program from (you guessed it!) Avery, since the mid-2000s. The latest incarnation is not the friendliest thing in the universe, but it's designed for label building and that gives it good marks with respect to other programs.

*Pros:* It's designed for label making -- adding graphics and text (including curved text) any place you want is simple. It duplicates the design across the page.

*Cons:* It's designed for use by people without PC skills, so it railroads you through the process. It's based completely around Avery products (which makes perfect sense) so if you want something else, it's not going to happen.

I've printed on 3 materials:

1) Avery labels. This is the easiest to use, but you're limited to a white background. [I printed 2 batches of labels with a lightly colored background -- burned through an entire ink cartridge, labels cost nearly as much as the wine!] Labels come off easily in a soaking.

2) Wine labels. These are pregummed colored sheets that you wet before applying. I'm disappointed in this product (bought blue and yellow). The yellow especially look poor on the bottle. On the plus side, the labels come off VERY easy.

3) Plain paper. Print on plain or colored paper and use a glue stick. I cut them with a photo cutter (designed for scrapbooking) and stick 'em on. The process is a bit more laborious, but I will probably go forward with this, as I can buy any color paper I want. Labels come off very easily.

BTW: After years of printing on an inkjet, I printed my last set on a colored laser printer. I won't go back to inkjet .....


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## robert81650

On-Line labels.com have a generic for Avery labels in all sizes and shapes. Print my on with laser printer and design them myself. I use the 4 X 3.33 size and they look great. If I'm going to all the trouble to make a good wine, then I want my label to match. I use Print Artist software, but also On-Line labels.com will let you use their free soft ware to design labels for buying the blank labels from them.


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## jgmann67

robert81650 said:


> On-Line labels.com have a generic for Avery labels in all sizes and shapes. Print my on with laser printer and design them myself. I use the 4 X 3.33 size and they look great. If I'm going to all the trouble to make a good wine, then I want my label to match. I use Print Artist software, but also On-Line labels.com will let you use their free soft ware to design labels for buying the blank labels from them.



I use online labels.com too. Interested to see examples of your work.


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## robert81650

I will be glad to, but I'll have to figure out to post pictures......


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## Dennis Griffith

bstnh1 said:


> I buy only Winexpert kits from Labelpeelers and get the labels they have to go with them. They're from LD Carlson and the latest ones are vinyl and peel off easily and leave virtually no residue on the bottle. Makes life a lot easier. They cost $5.99/30 - about 20 cents a bottle.



Do you use an inkjet or laser to print these?


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## AceCinde

We use Vistaprint and love the results.


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## Dennis Griffith

AceCinde said:


> We use Vistaprint and love the results.



How easy do the labels come off?


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## AceCinde

Dennis Griffith said:


> How easy do the labels come off?


With hot water they peel off rather easily.


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## winemaker81

I printed on plain paper on a color laser printer. After using an inkjet for many years, it's amazing how crisp the result is with the laser printer. Yeah, I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I am.

I'm using Elmer's Gluestick to put the labels on. They come off very easily.

After this current batch I may try Avery labels again. I bought the better quality ones and they stuck nicely but also came off with relatively little effort. Labels are less of a pain to apply than using a glue stick.




[Clicking the thumbnail displays the full size picture]


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## tttaff

I use Microsoft Publisher with OL150WX stick-on labels, 4 in X 3.33 in. Here is a label for a wine I just bottled...


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## Dennis Griffith

tttaff said:


> I use Microsoft Publisher with OL150WX stick-on labels, 4 in X 3.33 in. Here is a label for a wine I just bottled...
> 
> View attachment 52248



Do you print them with an inkjet or laser? How easy do thay come off?

Happy Thanksgiving!


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## tttaff

Dennis Griffith said:


> Do you print them with an inkjet or laser? How easy do thay come off?
> 
> Happy Thanksgiving!



I use an inkjet and they come out very nicely. They are also pretty easy to get off.


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## RonNH

After looking into printing my own labels and not finding too much in the way of templates that I liked, I found a company called Next Day Fliers that had a design and background that looked sort of old and adding my own text and colors was real easy. For 50 labels and a three day turnaround, it came to $45.00, shipping was about $20 until I told them it seemed kind of steep so they knocked it down to $17. and also put a rush on the order because I wanted to give a bottle to some good customers who were giving an end of the job party.

I am ordering again from them using the same basic template but instead of Chardonnay, I am leaving the line blank so I can write in the different types of wine I am bottling.


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## Dawgdrvr

The wife does a lot of scrap booking for a long time about 10 years ago she turned me onto www.stickeryou.com . They have templates for beer ,wine and mason jar labels . You upload your own photos and or clip art.


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## farmerjack

Bts said:


> How easily do the avery labels come off? I've been using laser printer on standard printer paper and a glue stick. Cutting and gluing takes a bit more time than I'd prefer on the front end, but they look pretty good and come off *super* easy. Wet the label first, double rinse the inside, put the label back under the faucet and just rub it for a second or two with your palm and the label and all the glue come right off. I've tested some of the labels included with the cheap fontana kits and they're too much of a pain to remove.



Try soaking in hot water, grinding with a 3M scrubby , and then denatured alcohol. The denatured cuts through many dried adhesives very nicely without making a bigger mess.


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## joeswine

I've don3 both on my everyday wines Avery is good enough. On my better wines I usually bought from George about a dollar per label, sometimes Noontime or Gino Pinto's .
I've always believed that of you know a wine that you made was good then a professional finish was required.Labels do that.


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## montanarick

This is my second reply to this post. I've found that most labels either fall off when they get wet or you spend your entire day trying to scrape them off. Again, my go to labels come from sheetlabels.com. they are removable white polyester and totally waterproof. they peel right off - just stick a fingernail under a corner and presto! not only that nut if you happen to put them on wrong , you can peel them off and re-apply them. minimum order is 25 sheets (100 labels) for $19.99 which works out to $0.20 per label or get 100 sheets for $49.99 or $0.12 per label. well worth it!


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## rhattin

2 purposes for labels: record pertinent info, or marketing. 
i use avery easy peel 30 to a sheet for my regular wine. they are easy to peel for about 2 years, then glue hardens and i need hot water, inside bottle, to strip them off. normally no residual glue. 10 seconds a bottle. 
for marketing labels i use the ones provided by upper end kits, but add batch number so i can track them for age and tweaks. 
ric


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## robert81650

Good idea....I put the date the wine was started and refer back to my notebook for any thing special done during the making. Do you use and wine making software to keep your notes? I just you spiral notebook from WMT.


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## Jal5

I went with a company labels for my first batch forget the name niw 
But they were vinyl and easy to remove. Since then I went with Microsoft program and print on plain copy paper. You can spray those sheets with an acrylic and even the inkjet images are waterproof. Glue stick is fine for these. A little labor but it is cheap and looks good.


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## Jal5

Bottled a gallon of the Chilean juice riesling started last May. Think I found my riesling label:
Avery label program but I printed them on copy paper for this little batch.


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## robert81650

Looks great to me...........


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## Mark Bennett

I have started using Avery for my labels. I bought the removable labels on Amazon. They have many sizes to choose from. This is the label I will be using for my batch of Pinot Noir. It is the 3 x 4 label. Using Avery Design and Print website, you can set any picture as a background. Insert other pictures and text. You can also do some special effects with the text. When you are ready to print, the grid lines will go away. They are there so you can center everything on the label. The labels will just peel off when you are ready to remove them.


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## joeswine

Fine wines had great labels I used them lot, I need to investigate Noontime next.


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## Mark Bennett

To remove labels from bottles, I use a $9 heat gun from Harbor Freight. Heat the label 10-15 secs on high and then scrape the label off with a razor blade scraper. Any leftover glue residue can be wiped off with a paper towel soaked in Ronsonol lighter fluid.
I have found that the labels from all "19 Crimes" wines will come off easily under warm running water.


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## cooknhogz

Anyone else use evermine? Looks like a great site for labels.


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## franc1969

Jal5 said:


> print on plain copy paper. You can spray those sheets with an acrylic and even the inkjet images are waterproof



What acrylic spray are you using? I have a black - only laser at home, but can set up an old inkjet for this.


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## Chris Pittock

I design my own using MS Word, print them off a laser printer and cut them using the office guillotine. I use Pritt stick to glue them on as it comes off really early after use. Just a little hot water.


wine by Chris P, on Flickr


wine2 by Chris P, on Flickr


sloe by Chris P, on Flickr


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## Mario Dinis

I've used Avery for these labels. This is my 2015, 2016 and 2017 wines.


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## DJtannin

Been using a great company for years for wine labels https://www.sheetlabels.com/markets/bottle-labels/wine-bottle-labels, started with blanks, turn this sideways and get a "full bleed" print https://www.sheetlabels.com/labels/SL571 or checkout their custom options, they seem to have the best pricing and the quality is awesome. The poly labels are great for waterproof, but you can also get the uncoated paper for super low cost. Their printing is good too, I now prefer their bopp label rolls for the larger batches of wine and beer, can use the same label size with multiple artworks to run a larger batch, these labels are the same as what you'd see in the store. Haven't tried their estate paper yet, not sure if I"ll have enough volume in the near future, but sounds pretty cool.


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## jayhkr

So I have extreme OCD when it comes to making anything presentable. Is there a trick, or jig I can build to put labels on straight?


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## Ajmassa

jayhkr said:


> So I have extreme OCD when it comes to making anything presentable. Is there a trick, or jig I can build to put labels on straight?



The higher quality Bordeaux bottles that taper down are a pain to put on without looking cockeyed. 
Otherwise I use the glass seam on the bottle as my plumb line and start the label along that edge.


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## jayhkr

Ajmassa5983 said:


> The higher quality Bordeaux bottles that taper down are a pain to put on without looking cockeyed.
> Otherwise I use the glass seam on the bottle as my plumb line and start the label along that edge.


 That’s what I’ve been doing but didn’t know if there was another, better way. Thank you.


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## sour_grapes

jayhkr said:


> So I have extreme OCD when it comes to making anything presentable. Is there a trick, or jig I can build to put labels on straight?



Off the top of my head, @joeswine uses a good ol' wooden miter box, and @NorCal has built a nifty laser guide out of a scanner. Maybe they will have links.


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## NorCal

Here you go, the laser label aligner.


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## Johnd

Or try https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015VG019C/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## jayhkr

Johnd said:


> Or try https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015VG019C/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


I like this. It's something I can put together with all my scrap wood downstairs! Thank you!!


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