Bottling luck

[Slappy]

Had a stroke of luck with my future bottling today.
I happen to work with a fella who runs his own little winery and we've both taken an interest in what each other are doing. So today we're having a chat about bottling and he's offered for me to bring my wines down to his place and use his commercial bottling line which is amazing. So I'm going to end up having my stuff under proper stelvin closures in new bottles for around $1 per bottle. Ran my sums and with my cost of grapes etc it comes to $2.55 a bottle. Absolutely stoked because I'm going to be having a professional level of packaging for cheaper than I can buy any bottles myself. And the best part is no more cleaning bottles and scraping off damn labels. Seriously considering crushing a tonne next vintage now...

 

[rustbucket]

I've been putting off bottling a 6 gallon batch until I get sufficient uninterrupted time in the kitchen to do it. You're going to have it all done for you at very little cost. I'm envious of your good fortune.

 

[CK55]

Had a stroke of luck with my future bottling today.
I happen to work with a fella who runs his own little winery and we've both taken an interest in what each other are doing. So today we're having a chat about bottling and he's offered for me to bring my wines down to his place and use his commercial bottling line which is amazing. So I'm going to end up having my stuff under proper stelvin closures in new bottles for around $1 per bottle. Ran my sums and with my cost of grapes etc it comes to $2.55 a bottle. Absolutely stoked because I'm going to be having a professional level of packaging for cheaper than I can buy any bottles myself. And the best part is no more cleaning bottles and scraping off damn labels. Seriously considering crushing a tonne next vintage now...

You lucky little devil. I wish that i had that solely because i put off bottling because its such a pain in the arse.

 

[balatonwine]

proper stelvin closures

If one considers screw caps "proper".

for around $1 per bottle

That is actually a good price.

 

[Slappy]

If one considers screw caps "proper".



That is actually a good price.

I actually do prefer cork tbh and have a floor corker, problem here in Australia is getting good corks in small quantities. I've only been able to find rubbish particle corks here so far but am looking around. I'm also scoring a couple of hundred cork bottles from him for nothing from back when he used corks. So hopefully can source some good corks at some point too for bottling small batches at home.

I have 25-30 gallons I'll be bottling soon so this is going to save me a lot of messing around. No cleaning bottles or scrounging used bottles and removing labels is a godsend.

 

[balatonwine]

I actually do prefer cork

No worries. I am not a purist. Screw cap is fine. The wine is what matters, not the container.

I was just sort of joking. Ergo, the winking "smiley".

 

[Slappy]

No worries. I am not a purist. Screw cap is fine. The wine is what matters, not the container.

I was just sort of joking. Ergo, the winking "smiley".

I know you were joking mate all good. I don't know about the rest of the world but I'd say over 90% of wine here is now under screw caps and cork is almost a dirty word!
Hell I'm happy to put my wine in beer bottles and do so regularly.

 

[Ajmassa]

A well placed emoji can change the entire tone. [emoji848]

A well needed emoji omitted can also change entire intended tone.[emoji51]

 

[CK55]

I know you were joking mate all good. I don't know about the rest of the world but I'd say over 90% of wine here is now under screw caps and cork is almost a dirty word!
Hell I'm happy to put my wine in beer bottles and do so regularly.

I hate screwcaps and avoid buying wine even if its good if it doesn't have a cork in it. Its not just being a purist but corks are just a superior means to age and store wine. And ill be using corks even if everyone else stops.

 

[Slappy]

I hate screwcaps and avoid buying wine even if its good if it doesn't have a cork in it. Its not just being a purist but corks are just a superior means to age and store wine. And ill be using corks even if everyone else stops.

That's the best thing about this hobby/interest. So many different opinions and preferences for a range of reasons.
I now make far more wine than I can drink so getting a majority professionally bottled under stelvins for little cost and effort makes sense as it's the way most people prefer their wine nowadays. And I'm sure it will enhance their perception of the quality of my wine as the packaging is consistent with what they purchase.
What I'm trying to avoid with my winemaking is people likening it to an inferior product as it's home made.
I'd love for people to serve the wine I make with pride that it was made by their son, brother, nephew etc.
I'm looking forward to putting a few dozen under cork for myself every year as I feel wine ages better under cork, but I'll keep them all for me. And my fruit wines and meads can just go in beer bottles as they always have.

 

[CK55]

That's the best thing about this hobby/interest. So many different opinions and preferences for a range of reasons.
I now make far more wine than I can drink so getting a majority professionally bottled under stelvins for little cost and effort makes sense as it's the way most people prefer their wine nowadays. And I'm sure it will enhance their perception of the quality of my wine as the packaging is consistent with what they purchase.
What I'm trying to avoid with my winemaking is people likening it to an inferior product as it's home made.
I'd love for people to serve the wine I make with pride that it was made by their son, brother, nephew etc.
I'm looking forward to putting a few dozen under cork for myself every year as I feel wine ages better under cork, but I'll keep them all for me. And my fruit wines and meads can just go in beer bottles as they always have.

Yep, I dont really have everything in place but I have 450 vines and im planning to plant some more so im going to have so much grapes that I am actually talking with a local winery literally down the street about a half a mile from me about collaborating, seeing if he wont let me use his facilities and work together and it would allow me to sell some of my excess wine that im not going to keep.

 

[Slappy]

Yep, I dont really have everything in place but I have 450 vines and im planning to plant some more so im going to have so much grapes that I am actually talking with a local winery literally down the street about a half a mile from me about collaborating, seeing if he wont let me use his facilities and work together and it would allow me to sell some of my excess wine that im not going to keep.

That collaboration makes a lot of sense if he has excess capacity in his facilities and you have excess grapes it's win win. I'd love to have my own vines but that's probably a pipe dream right now. I kinda hope I can foster the relationship I'm building with this winemaker as he is a 1 man show that could use a hand at times and I want to learn. All going well I'd love to have a producers license in a couple of years but that depends if the council will approve me using my residential premises. Until then I'll have lots of wine to give away to family and friends and something to keep me occupied.

 

[CK55]

That collaboration makes a lot of sense if he has excess capacity in his facilities and you have excess grapes it's win win. I'd love to have my own vines but that's probably a pipe dream right now. I kinda hope I can foster the relationship I'm building with this winemaker as he is a 1 man show that could use a hand at times and I want to learn. All going well I'd love to have a producers license in a couple of years but that depends if the council will approve me using my residential premises. Until then I'll have lots of wine to give away to family and friends and something to keep me occupied.

I'll certainly accept a bottle and send you one of my old vine wines, when it's done. My vines need a couple years but I have a cluster of vines that family planted 40 years ago but never used for wine, they were taken from vines planted by my great great great grandfather.

Should be interesting way to kill a few years. Quite dark in the fermenter.

 

[Slappy]

I'll certainly accept a bottle and send you one of my old vine wines, when it's done. My vines need a couple years but I have a cluster of vines that family planted 40 years ago but never used for wine, they were taken from vines planted by my great great great grandfather.

Should be interesting way to kill a few years. Quite dark in the fermenter.

What part of the world are you in? I'm in Australia and had a look at shipping wine overseas but it looks bloody hard/expensive to do.

 

[CK55]

What part of the world are you in? I'm in Australia and had a look at shipping wine overseas but it looks bloody hard/expensive to do.

California but I sent a 8 pound package to Australia 5 months ago for like $24

 

[Slappy]

California but I sent a 8 pound package to Australia 5 months ago for like $24

Looks like it's tricky to get things through US customs but I'll have a closer look when I have something worthy of sending.

 

[CK55]

Looks like it's tricky to get things through US customs but I'll have a closer look when I have something worthy of sending.

Is it really? I shipped a guy legit US military Surplus and or foodstuffs and it went through both and i even shipped it USPS. So i mean if that gets through chances are anything else would lol.

 

[Slappy]

Is it really? I shipped a guy legit US military Surplus and or foodstuffs and it went through both and i even shipped it USPS. So i mean if that gets through chances are anything else would lol.

From what I can see any food or drink/liquor is hard to send in to the US. But if flying in it's easy to get through you just need to pay the tax. I've had a fair few knives etc sent to me here from US so no problems sending stuff out of there I guess!