Looking for New Bottles - Central IL, USA

[OnDaRox]

Hello! I've finally gotten to the point where I want to order new bottles as I've got quite a bit aging to bottle and I'd like to have a consistent bottle for all. I'm looking for about 20 cases at this point.

I got a quote from West Coast Bottles and their prices are awesome before freight, and so I'm looking for a local loading dock to drop ship for the best rate. (They will sell direct to a home winemaker)

Before I order, I have some questions for my fellow Midwest wine makers.

Where do those of you doing high-volume, for those of you who buy new, where do you get your bottles? Is anyone aware of a bottle distributor in the Chicago area?

Any Central IL wine clubs exist that would want to do a group buy of bottles to save on freight?

I'm hoping to buy a decent quantity, then can reuse those, until I break them or give them away and need more! I'm trying to find that happy balance between the cost of buying new vs the effort involved in acquiring 200+ bottles, sorting through them for the same size\shape\color, removing the labels and cleaning them.

Thanks for any ideas,

Tom

 

[cmsben61]

I get mine free from a local winery.

 

[salcoco]

I would also check with the local winery for purchase of new bottles or piggy back on there order.

 

[Skycarp]

I get my bottles from a venue that does large parties. They typically serve the same wines so bottle sorting is minimal...plus they almost always put the empties back in the cases they came in.
I would guess that being in the Chicago area that large party venues would not be hard to find. Weddings, retirement parties, concerts, etc

 

[hounddawg]

Labelpleelers.com
Dawg








QUOTE=OnDaRox;634614]Hello! I've finally gotten to the point where I want to order new bottles as I've got quite a bit aging to bottle and I'd like to have a consistent bottle for all. I'm looking for about 20 cases at this point.

I got a quote from West Coast Bottles and their prices are awesome before freight, and so I'm looking for a local loading dock to drop ship for the best rate. (They will sell direct to a home winemaker)

Before I order, I have some questions for my fellow Midwest wine makers.

Where do those of you doing high-volume, for those of you who buy new, where do you get your bottles? Is anyone aware of a bottle distributor in the Chicago area?

Any Central IL wine clubs exist that would want to do a group buy of bottles to save on freight?

I'm hoping to buy a decent quantity, then can reuse those, until I break them or give them away and need more! I'm trying to find that happy balance between the cost of buying new vs the effort involved in acquiring 200+ bottles, sorting through them for the same size\shape\color, removing the labels and cleaning them.

Thanks for any ideas,

Tom[/QUOTE]

 

[pkm925]

Tom,

I also like new bottles and like you I do about 20 cases a year. I think that's a little too much for scrounging from restaurants and bars, to say nothing about all the messing around trying to remove the old labels. Back in the bad old days I think I used to collect 2 or 3 bottles for every one I could use.

Hounddawg you're right to a point, LabelPeelers is one of the better retail outlets for bottles. That said, the retail prices for new bottles are just crazy.

On the west coast there are lots of opportunities to purchase wine bottles at very reasonable prices. I got the best deals from Diablo Packaging, really nice people to work with. Tom, I see you're in Chicago, which is not so good for buying wine bottles.

I may be able to help you. I worked for a couple years on buying wine bottles for our wine club, as a service to our members. Last year the club decided bottles were too much bother so the club didn't offer this service to the membership. This year I managed to find a source that has a warehouse in the northern suburbs, Elk Grove. I was able to pick up my bottles at the warehouse, no shipping charges. What a good thing!

If you can buy in pallet quantities, you can get some pretty good deals on bottles. If you're buying in quantities of less than a pallet, they hit you with a pallet handling fee. I paid $50 pallet handling fee this year but it still worked out a lot cheaper than any retail price I've ever seen.

Tom, let me know if your still interested in buying bottles (I see your original post was a while ago) or maybe buying bottles together in the future.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[OnDaRox]

Hey Kevin - thanks for the reply. I happened to be in Minneapolis on business trip a couple months ago and stopped by Midwest Supplies and was able to pickup 15 cases and not pay shipping. I'm not quite at the point to buy pallet quantity but maybe someday.

I'll keep you in mind if I'm looking to order another batch, or let me know if you're ordering some and maybe I'll be ready to tag on.

Thanks!

Tom

Tom,

I also like new bottles and like you I do about 20 cases a year. I think that's a little too much for scrounging from restaurants and bars, to say nothing about all the messing around trying to remove the old labels. Back in the bad old days I think I used to collect 2 or 3 bottles for every one I could use.

Hounddawg you're right to a point, LabelPeelers is one of the better retail outlets for bottles. That said, the retail prices for new bottles are just crazy.

On the west coast there are lots of opportunities to purchase wine bottles at very reasonable prices. I got the best deals from Diablo Packaging, really nice people to work with. Tom, I see you're in Chicago, which is not so good for buying wine bottles.

I may be able to help you. I worked for a couple years on buying wine bottles for our wine club, as a service to our members. Last year the club decided bottles were too much bother so the club didn't offer this service to the membership. This year I managed to find a source that has a warehouse in the northern suburbs, Elk Grove. I was able to pick up my bottles at the warehouse, no shipping charges. What a good thing!

If you can buy in pallet quantities, you can get some pretty good deals on bottles. If you're buying in quantities of less than a pallet, they hit you with a pallet handling fee. I paid $50 pallet handling fee this year but it still worked out a lot cheaper than any retail price I've ever seen.

Tom, let me know if your still interested in buying bottles (I see your original post was a while ago) or maybe buying bottles together in the future.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Doodlewine]

Tom,

I also like new bottles and like you I do about 20 cases a year. I think that's a little too much for scrounging from restaurants and bars, to say nothing about all the messing around trying to remove the old labels. Back in the bad old days I think I used to collect 2 or 3 bottles for every one I could use.

Hounddawg you're right to a point, LabelPeelers is one of the better retail outlets for bottles. That said, the retail prices for new bottles are just crazy.

On the west coast there are lots of opportunities to purchase wine bottles at very reasonable prices. I got the best deals from Diablo Packaging, really nice people to work with. Tom, I see you're in Chicago, which is not so good for buying wine bottles.

I may be able to help you. I worked for a couple years on buying wine bottles for our wine club, as a service to our members. Last year the club decided bottles were too much bother so the club didn't offer this service to the membership. This year I managed to find a source that has a warehouse in the northern suburbs, Elk Grove. I was able to pick up my bottles at the warehouse, no shipping charges. What a good thing!

If you can buy in pallet quantities, you can get some pretty good deals on bottles. If you're buying in quantities of less than a pallet, they hit you with a pallet handling fee. I paid $50 pallet handling fee this year but it still worked out a lot cheaper than any retail price I've ever seen.

Tom, let me know if your still interested in buying bottles (I see your original post was a while ago) or maybe buying bottles together in the future.

Regards,
Kevin

Hey Kevin,

I'm trying to find the best price for some bottles. How many are on a pallet?