Label printers

[TangleFoot]

Hey all, just getting my small farm Winery going and am down to getting my labels. I really want to print my own mostly because of short runs and figuring out what is going to sell.
Been doing alot of research and am kinda looking at the Primera LX600.
Anyone here use this printer. Looking for suggestions, what do you use.
Thanks for your time, Tanglefoot

 

[salcoco]

I had good luck using a local printer. supplied him with blank labels I purchased from onlinelables.com and a digital file of the approved label and he would do short runs

 

[Bmd2k1]

I've had success (and fun) creating labels at www.avery.com and then printing em at local Kinkos.

Cheers!

 

[winemaker81]

I'm not familiar with the Primera brand, so I searched on it. Oddly enough, I did not find reviews. I take reviews with a 5 lb bag of salt, but finding none is surprising. I advise caution, especially for an $1,800 printer.

HP and Brother are well rated, and the models I viewed cost less than 1/3 the price of the Primera. I'm not familiar with this site, but their first pick (HP) is well rated on Amazon, and you should be able to find ratings on other sites to confirm that. I look at multiple reviews before making a decision on anything.

Top 10 Laser Printers 2021 (buyersguide.org)

I checked Consumer Reports -- they rated less expensive printers, which I'd use for home, but not professionally. However, their top picks were also HP and Brother.

BTW -- I use Avery's desktop program, which is no longer distributed, to create labels. I save the labels as PDF and print at the local Staples. I use a waterproof media, and Staples lets me supply my own. You can order media from Avery, large orders get a good discount.

 

[TangleFoot]

Hey all, update here, hope it helps someone.
I have been overwhelmed the last several months trying to get all my ducks in a row and get up and running. Real close now.
As for printers, I done ALOT of research and I did decide on and got a Primera LX610 printer. Pretty expensive but got it up and going and so far love it. Prints very nice and cuts out any shape label that you put in. Just print -peel-stick on. The label sells the wine in my opinion.
I sure as heck wouldn't recommend this kind of $$$ but it is what I got and am happy so far. The folks at Primera.com were awesome to work with on a few problems that I had.
Attached some pics.

 

[winemaker81]

Your labels look great!

I didn't realize it was a specialty printer. For a commercial winery, it makes sense to have a good printer.

 

[TangleFoot]

Thanks,
Adrian
Tanglefoot Wine Cellar

 

[Ct Winemaker]

Hello Tanglefoot Wine Cellar,

We are considering this printer as well, so hope you don't mind a few questions.

Have you determined an approximate cost / label?
What material are you printing on?
Are you using Dye or Pigment ink?
Any problems with the unit or getting print stock or ink?

Thank you very much for any answers you can provide.

 

[TangleFoot]

Hey CT Would be glad to answer,
Cost right now is less than .25 cents / label, and I think I can reduce that some because right now the machine is spacing about 1 1/2 " between labels which wastes label material. I just need to explore how to close this gap up a little. (Not including cost of machine)
I am using #57216 LX610 Matte BOPP continuous label stock, and using Dye ink.
I really like this machine, is working great so far. I have printed 320 labels so far and used 30% of my first ink cartridge.
The folks at Primera have been awesome to work with. When you buy a machine from them you get a free 1 hour training course with a tech, mine was Mitchel, and I had a label up on screen and I let him take over my computer and watched him go thru making a label while I took notes. This helped me a bunch. Also I did purchase the Pro version of the software, which I would recommend. About another $150.00.
This was a very hard decision for me to make, spending this much, but so far NO regrets.
Hope this helps and feel free to ask more
Adrian
Tanglefoot Wine Cellar

Forgot to mention. Thought I would get a couple more rolls label stock and an ink cartridge for up coming run and shipping was fast. From Plymouth MN to Central Kansas was either 2 or 3 days. It even showed up Sunday morning by FedX.

 

[Ct Winemaker]

Thanks Adrian, very helpful. We're at that decision point - print our own or have printed. As with all business decisions, there are pros and cons either way. Not fully convinced yet on which way to go.

Thanks again.

 

[Chuck Rairdan]

Adrian, love your labels. For your peach chardonnay, did you make it with peaches or grapes flavored with peaches? Reason I ask is that this past year I made an oaked peach wine that I describe as a peach version of a french style chardonnay. Wasn't really aiming for that at the outset, but the similarities are spot on with the added bonus of those great peach aromatics. Chuck

 

[TangleFoot]

Thanks Adrian, very helpful. We're at that decision point - print our own or have printed. As with all business decisions, there are pros and cons either way. Not fully convinced yet on which way to go.

Thanks again.

You Are Welcome, My main reason for getting this printer and doing my own labels was because of a lot of small batches and varieties of wines and I'm way out in the country on a Farm, not close to printing shops.
Cheers

 

[TangleFoot]

Adrian, love your labels. For your peach chardonnay, did you make it with peaches or grapes flavored with peaches? Reason I ask is that this past year I made an oaked peach wine that I describe as a peach version of a french style chardonnay. Wasn't really aiming for that at the outset, but the similarities are spot on with the added bonus of those great peach aromatics. Chuck

This one is made from a "wine kit", Master Vintners-Tropical Bliss Peach Chardonnay, it is Chardonnay Grapes from California with added Peach flavors. Turned out really nice, good peach flavor but not over-bearing. I only made one label for this batch for myself. AS PER the Feds, I have to call it "Peach White Grape Wine" or go thru their formulas process. I'm learning. I'm making quit a few different Fruit wines mainly to see what sells around here, and weed out a few as I go along. I am a "Farm Winery" and do have Apple, Peach, Elderberries, Cherry and Plum trees that I use in season.
Cheers

 

[winemaker81]

@TangleFoot, when you figure out the actual costs of printing your own label, please post it. While I'm not interested in going pro, it's useful information to both amateurs who produce nice labels and those interested in going pro.,

 

[Chuck Rairdan]

This one is made from a "wine kit", Master Vintners-Tropical Bliss Peach Chardonnay, it is Chardonnay Grapes from California with added Peach flavors. Turned out really nice, good peach flavor but not over-bearing. I only made one label for this batch for myself. AS PER the Feds, I have to call it "Peach White Grape Wine" or go thru their formulas process. I'm learning. I'm making quit a few different Fruit wines mainly to see what sells around here, and weed out a few as I go along. I am a "Farm Winery" and do have Apple, Peach, Elderberries, Cherry and Plum trees that I use in season.
Cheers

Many hoops to jump through when one goes commercial. Lot's of fun experimenting with the small batches. I have had some good results with elderberry wines. The key there seems to be a minimal aging period before it smooths out and really shines, almost like alchemy. Between 3 and 5 years seems to be where they round the corner.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Hey all, update here, hope it helps someone.
I have been overwhelmed the last several months trying to get all my ducks in a row and get up and running. Real close now.
As for printers, I done ALOT of research and I did decide on and got a Primera LX610 printer. Pretty expensive but got it up and going and so far love it. Prints very nice and cuts out any shape label that you put in. Just print -peel-stick on. The label sells the wine in my opinion.
I sure as heck wouldn't recommend this kind of $$$ but it is what I got and am happy so far. The folks at Primera.com were awesome to work with on a few problems that I had.
Attached some pics.

Great information !
I have been looking into buying a special printer to do our labels and hopefully for past customers also . I agree that the label makes the wine - in the past I only used a simple address label to identify it.