Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/62409
P A CKA GING Even inexpensive wine needs good- looking packaging, Nulman noted. To that end, Bottle Meister has added a new, multi-head screwcapping machine from AROL, which handles 100 cases per hour of LUX-style screwcaps. These more closely resemble cork-and-capsule closures, because the screwtop threads are concealed. Highlights • Equipment for applying screwcaps leads the list of trends in bottling line advances, according to mobile bottlers and their suppliers. • Mobile bottlers stress scrupulousness in sanitation and recommend different techniques to achieve a squeaky-clean environment. • If you want to stick with cold-glue labels, you'd better learn to apply them yourself. "If you screw up—don't sanitize properly, or not pull any vacuum into the bottle— you can ruin or impair a vintage." —Tom Nulman, The Bottle Meister Inc. Nulman emphasized that mobile bottling is economical. "Unless you're making 100,000 cases a year, you're probably bottling only 12 weeks. At our typical charge of $2 per case, even if you got your equipment for free, you'd have to insure it and pay taxes on it." Castoro_Nov08 10/8/08 1:54 PM Page 1 Bottle Meister applies heat-shrink polyvinyl capsules for several high-end wineries. Although at about a penny apiece these are substantially cheaper than tin or polylam capsules, Nulman said. "You can make them look great." At a minimal savings of 20 cents per bottle compared with other materials, "Essentially, you get free bottling," he said. Heat-shrink capsules are especially well suited to unusual bottles, including those with drip-bead tops. "They look nice," he affirmed. Clean, green and sparkling Sanitation is a priority at Bottle Meis- ter, as it should be for every bottling line. "If you screw up—don't sanitize properly, or not pull any vacuum into the bottle—you can ruin or impair a vintage," Nulman noted. Thomas Jordan, CEO, described the MALA_Dir11.qxp 11/29/10 4:07 PM Page 1 set-up at Peregrine Mobile Bottling LLC in Napa: First, a McBrady Orbit Rinser cleans bottles with sterilized, compressed air before they enter the Krones/Kosme counter-pressure filler- bloc equipped with 24 filling valves, a four-head AROL corker and three- head screwcapper, working at speeds up to 75 bottles per minute. The unit seals the bottle on the filler carousel, evacuates it with a minus-850mbar or minus-12psi vacuum, sparges with nitrogen gas and repeats twice before • VELCORIN DOSING NOW AVAILABLE! • Bottle cleaning, sparging & gravity filling • Vacuum corking & multiple head corkers • All types of capsules including SCREW CAP • Single or dual web PS labeling • NEW – 187ml bottling • 20 years of hands-on bottling experience • Supported by a winery • Experienced bottling line technicians • Technical support for bottling prep & packaging • Competitive prices Wines & Vines JAnUARY 2012 43