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winemaker81

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Folks in the Raleigh, NC area: Starrlight Meadery in Pittsboro is happy to give away tasting room empties. I picked up 6 cases this evening, and they had more. I got a mixture of blue, green, and brown bottles, all Bordeaux style.

The labels peel when soaked in very hot water. I've had to hit the bottles with Goo Gone to remove residual glue, but it's not too bad. I'll probably process all 6 cases over a 2 day period.

Tastings are $10 USD for 8 wines, and they have a wide variety of meads. I purchased a bottle of Nordic Blend, an off-dry mead flavored with caraway, fennel, and anise seed.
 
When I go to a winery, I ask about tasting room empties, assuming the bottles are useful. Some wineries use all screwcaps, or they use Pinot Noir / Chardonnay bottles, but Starrlight uses all Bordeaux bottles. They are flat bottomed (no punt), but I can live with that.

Yesterday I got 6 cases as that was all that would fit in my son's vehicle at once. Besides, we bottled the last of the 2021's yesterday, so I won't be bottling anything until April, at the earliest. At that time I'll need 26 cases, and I have 13 clean + 6 new ones, and I'll make at least a couple of stops at Starrlight before then. Plus recycling whatever I drink (which will may be enough, anyway!).

I bottled the Chardonnay for my son's wedding reception in new Chardonnay bottles, and had enough of them to bottle my last Chardonnay kit. I had enough PN bottles (green instead of brown) to bottle Elderberry. However, since I have a good source for Bordeaux bottles, I probably won't be using non-Bordeaux bottles in the future, as Bordeaux stack well and take up less space.

Unfortunately some wineries use Bordeaux bottles where the top is wider than the bottom. Those don't stack as well, so I'm weeding them out. Equally unfortunately, I have a lot of them, so the weeding process may not work as I hope.

So ... a portion of each batch is bottled in the less desired bottles, and I give away those to folks where I don't expect to get the bottle back. ;)
 
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