Guidelines in Using Wine Packaging: Things Wine Business Owners in Australia Need to Consider

Winemaking is a complex task comprised of numerous steps from start to finish. If you perform all the other steps correctly, you can still diminish or destroy the results by incorrectly packaging your wine. For this reason, we present the following sample guidelines in using wine packaging.

Wine Supply and Filling

Certain issues can arise in the wine supply that you need to remedy before you proceed with the filling. Examples of what we mean are as follows:

• Dissolved Oxygen or DO in the bulk wine supply that can negatively affect the outcome of the quality. Sparge as needed to prevent the wine in the tank from going above 0.5 ppm.
• Total Package Oxygen or TPO in the ullage of the bottle should be as low as possible to prevent premature aging to occur.
• Filtration reduces the microbial and matter contamination.

Bottle Closures for Wine

Regardless of whether you are using natural corks, technical corks or sparkling wine corks, the visual grade and price of them are directly connected. Lower grades of any of these increase the risk of the corks failing to seal the bottles correctly. The tolerance on the sealing has to be plus or minus 5 percent within the grade of the corks. Your goal always should be zero critical defects due to closure methods.

Labelling

The recommendation for labels is that their dimensions be no more than 5 mm at the bottom and the top to prevent puckering. Both wet gum and pressure sensitive labelling methods are acceptable. Images should be clear and legible. Also, all legal requirements need to be adhered to as far as the information that goes on the labels.

Glass Bottles

The dimensions of the glass bottles should comply with the ware specs from suppliers. Also, the type, size and style of the bottles that you select will influence the closure methods that you need to use. Capacity of wine bottles varies. Colour may be another consideration and will vary between manufacturers.

Package Safety and Usage

Refer to the suppliers’ specifications for safety and usage in the following areas:

• Safeguard against environmental influences during not only storage but also transport
• Dimensions and weights for manual handling and storage along with handling with the customer’s equipment
• Palletisation method, configurations and stability
• Minimise waste with packaging
• Supplied in quantities that address customers’ processing capabilities

For further details about guidelines in using wine packaging, click here or consult with Grapeworks Consumables. We provide a full line of winemaking machinery, equipment and supplies to help you in your endeavour to make delectable wine.