Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/62409
P A CKA GING John Davis says the Nitrodose Easy Dose liquid nitrogen injection system (above) fits easily into AT Mobile Bottling Line's compact setup. Test Your Bottling Device IQ Mobile bottlers share favorite new packaging items By Jane Firstenfeld O f all the necessary tasks required to bring wine from vineyard to shelf, bottling is probably the one most often farmed out to specialists: the mobile bottlers. In an increasingly competitive market, mobile bottlers are motivated to maintain their rigs to the highest standards, offer a multitude of packaging capabilities and protect their clients' wines from oxidation during bottling. 42 Wines & Vines JAnUARY 2012 Unlike cellar crews, instead of being pulled from other winery duties to work the complex, expensive equipment, mobile bottling crews work with the technology year-round, becoming efficiency experts for their specialized lines. So to find out what's new in bottling, it was logical to ask the mobile bottlers and their suppliers. Benefits for wineries "Each crew has a manager and an assis- tant; the manager has at least seven years of experience," said Tom Nulman, owner of The Bottle Meister Inc. in San Luis Obispo, Calif., which operates three mo- bile bottling trucks in the Central Coast. "We modify our equipment constantly and have zero oxygen pick-up." Bottle Meister, he said, was a pioneer using Velcorin dosing, which he considers a cheaper, more effective alternative to sterile filtration—at least for Brettanomyces problems. "All the things we invest in benefit the wineries," he said.