undressing...

[vernsgal]

I have some wine I'm giving to a friend for her family reunion. She asked if I could change the labels and put their family logo on it. I think it would be easier to just rebottle the wine and then label rather than trying to get old labels off with wine in bottles.
Would this hurt the wine any? They'll be used Sept long weekend so it'll have a month to get over any bottle shock

 

[Johnd]

I guess it mostly depends upon your labels. The ones I use (gummed back) come off when run under cool water for a minute or two, so that would be pretty easy to do. Unless it was incredibly hard to get yours off, seems like it would be better to change labels than risk exposure to oxygen / bacteria, and waste all of those corks / capsules.

Maybe you could make a darker label, a little bigger, and put it on over the other label.
Just my two cents.

 

[JohnT]

Wow,

You sure had me going there with the title of this thread!!!

I would scrape and replace the labels. My thinking is this would be cheaper than having to replace the corks. You also will not have that additional oxygen exposure as you would if you rebottled.

Another option is to simply glue the new label directly over the one already on the bottle.

 

[dralarms]

I soak mine standing up in a sink, wipe the labels off, dry and let sit 24 hrs before relabeling

 

[Julie]

Nice title, lol, you had 37 views within two hours.

Would you be able to just place a label over top of your current label?

 

[vernsgal]

Nice title, lol, you had 37 views within two hours.

Hahaha.I figured it would get some of these guys to at least look

I might try soaking awhile in room temp water,scaping as much as possible and then glue new one on.I just wondered on rebottling because corks and caps aren't a problem.

 

[Julie]

Actually I don't see a problem with re-bottling. I would do one bottle at a time.

 

[dralarms]

I have a friend that asks me to ''supply'' his Christmas wine that he gives out to family. I soak the labels off 1 flavor at a time. Then label with something snazzy for his purpose. It's not a problem to remove labels. Just don't use heated water.

 

[Whitehrs]

Yep, I would probably relabel.. and that is one way to get a thread views..

 

[Noontime]

Another vote for relabeling, although the risk is really low considering they will be enjoyed in September. Only you can decide on what's more laborious, but I'd rather scrape labels.

I'm guessing you have a lot of different size/shape labels from commercial bottles, so I would not recommend covering with a larger label. If these are to be presented to others they should probably look cleaner than that will allow. Good luck!

 

[vernsgal]

Thanks everyone. I think I'm going to transfer one bottle at a time as Julie suggested.It's not really about the time or corks etc.I'm retired, lots of time lol.Because it's for a good friend, I want them to look good.I'll use my bottling siphon so minimal air is introduced.
(and JohnT, I somehow knew my title would get your attention )

 

[Johny99]

Downside of rebottleing is oxygen. Due to the short time, worst thing I can think of is s bit of effervescence if you trap some air. That said, changing labels seems like less work. I try to leave a case or so of good stuff unlabeled for just this type of thing.

Btw, research I've read on bottle shock indicates it is due to filtering, so should not be an issue.

 

[vernsgal]

Btw, research I've read on bottle shock indicates it is due to filtering, so should not be an issue.

Thanks. Bottle shock I'm still not up to par on. I've read too many contradicting articles , so that is what I was most wary on.(truth be told, I'm wary on re-bottling, period)

 

[CheerfulHeart]

Loved the thread title! So glad you are back! One more vote for relabeling if time and budget permit.

 

[Runningwolf]

I would soak, scrape of the label and not worry about the glue. Just place the new label over the same spot to cover up any residual glue.

 

[richmke]

Would you reuse the current bottles with another batch of the same wine? If not, then you have to remove the labels anyway.

 

[vernsgal]

So today I slowly started adding the labels .I have 24 bottles,4 types to do.Just so I don't mix up the 2 whites or 2 reds I'm doing 1 at a time.Today I did the Riesling
(I have decided to remove the labels rather than rebottle.More work but safer I think)

 

[vernsgal]

And for some reason when I take photos with my tablet they post sideways.

 

[hounddawg]

a single edge razor blade an holder form home depot for a couple bucks, wet your bottle that will keep the single blade razor from scratching your glass, I used that system to clean glass in store fronts when I built stores in malls, yep I was a mall rat, just keep spraying water with like a Windex bottle or like spray bottle, filled with water, I used it on tempered glass 5 foot wide and 5/8 to 3/4 thick, and up to 11 feet tall,, so scratching was a major no no..
DAWG

 

[vernsgal]

I removed a lot of wallpaper that way.I'd soak it then scape it with a putty knife.