Ways to get Free Wine Bottles

[arcticsid]

This subject has come up so often I thought I would start a thread about it.

Depending on where you live this may not be so easy.

Youre favorite bar may only be good for a bottle or so. I guess one or two at a time will work.

These are my thoughts, please post yours.

Be on the lookout for wine tastings. You are assured they will be going through alot. If you approach the sponsor first you might have a chance on getting alot them. Even if you have to buy a ticket to get into this you will get the bottles and enjoy some nice wines.

Someone else suggested a bed and breakfast, though those aren't everywhere.

If you are in a "big" city, approach some of the more upscale hotels and restaurants. Don't talk to the Manager, go for the host/hostess, this is the person who is in charge of the waitstaff, and they are usually in charge of the dining room, they open, serve and remove the wine bottles. if you find one who is a "bunny hugger", excellent! You don't have to be an environmentalist to care about recycling.

Dont go for the typical neighborhood bar, go for the type of "lounges" where people would be more apt to drink wine.

If you are willing to, and keep your word to pick these up on time( I have ran restaurants and saved vegetable scraps for people!! COME AND PICK THEM UP!) you may be surprised that they will save them for you! keep your word, no establishment needs this piling up outside!

This is all I can think of right now.

Please share your ideas on ways to get used wine bottles. We all want to hear them.

We don't need to know how many millions of bottles of wine we go through in this country, those empties are going somewhere, all we want is a few, Please share your input.

Troy

 

[Mike]

I think BYOBs would be good. There is a smaller wine bistro near me who was more than happy to collect as many bottles as I wanted. I think the key is not really the specific type of place, but rather finding a friendly manager/host in a place that has wine bottles. If they're smart, they'll translate collecting wine bottles which they're be throwing out anyway into a future customer.

 

[arcticsid]

ust be sure to pick them up as you promise Mike.

 

[spleisher]

As I posted in another thread, I have reduced myself to riding around our neighborhood at night on my bicycle, peeking into neighbors' recycling bins. Crazy, I know.

 

[spleisher]

I actually called a fairly large local winery that does a ton of tastings, but they told me they don't give away their bottles, because they offer a credit for them when people return them, so as to encourage recycling.

Struck out there. Oh well.

 

[Boyd]

bottles

Try the local recycleing center.

Monday morning with a large box usually works best.

Talk to the man in charge, they sometimes will wait till later in the day to dump the bin.


In Minnesota there is no market for green bottles. They may already be seperated.

 

[spleisher]

I just scored!!

Wait a minute, let me re-phrase. That sounded bad. I'm a married man, and I'm at work.

But seriously, we have a nice local wine shop, where my wife and I will occasionally attend a tasting, or buy a bottle of commercial wine.

I just called them, and while they seemed a little confused at first when I asked if they had to return their bottles from tastings and such to manufacturers or if they had anyone taking them, they were quite happy to offer to save them for me, once I explained why I wanted them.

Cool!

My wife happens to be in that mall now, so I asked her to swing by while she's in the neighborhood. We'll see what she comes home with.

 

[nursejohn]

I also was very fortunate in finding bottles. After buying by first couple of cases when I started last year, I went to a local winery one day, asked for their empties and they were great about saving them for me. Now I have them on a pallet in my shop, John.

 

[Bailey]

Freecycle.org was a treasure chest for me! I posted one request and found a lady w/ 80+ bottles in her basement. She set them out for me to pick up w/o the hassle of even having to carry them up the stairs.

I check back once in a while to see if anyone needs any of my junk too - keeps it out of the landfill.

 

[Torch404]

Craigslist has gotten me quite a few, as has the recycling center and friends.

It just occured to me, why not host a wine tasting party...of course you can not invite your winemaking friends as they will want some bottles as well, but invite all your other friends over. Tell everyone to bring a bottle or two to share and since they were emptied in your house they're yours right

 

[spleisher]

My brother actually just had a wine tasting party a couple of weekends ago. We went, but had to go home kinda early to get the baby to bed, otherwise I would've brought home the bottles that night.

In any case, he's saving them for me, so no worries.

Nor I have to check out the freecycle site. That's interesting.

 

[Mike]

The wine tasting-ish suggestions are good and perhaps I'm in the minority less than a year into the hobby, but acquiring bottles a few at a time is a hassle for me. I think it's worth looking around until you can find a place that will give you dozens at a time and be done with it. My $0.02...

 

[Runningwolf]

I just scored!!

Wait a minute, let me re-phrase. That sounded bad. I'm a married man, and I'm at work.

But seriously, we have a nice local wine shop, where my wife and I will occasionally attend a tasting, or buy a bottle of commercial wine.

I just called them, and while they seemed a little confused at first when I asked if they had to return their bottles from tastings and such to manufacturers or if they had anyone taking them, they were quite happy to offer to save them for me, once I explained why I wanted them.

Cool!

My wife happens to be in that mall now, so I asked her to swing by while she's in the neighborhood. We'll see what she comes home with.

And now she'll score

 

[arcticsid]

EXCELLENT SCPLEISH!! It's working already!

 

[traveler]

Here in Alberta, recycling is a big thing. You can go over to the recycle depot and buy bottles for 10cents a piece. However I live a few doors from a service club, and the bar manager there saves me the bottles. It saves them taking them to the recycle depot. I give a bit more than 10cents a bottle as it goes into their charity fund. And a plus is that they rinse out the bottles for me.

 

[arcticsid]

Excellent!! Thats what I mean. If I wasn't in this forum i would love to tell you about my time in Edmonton. Great city, great times, I wish i could brag about a U.S. city the way I do about Edmenton. Ended up ther by accident, I was actually heading for Calgary. must have been the booze driving!

 

[traveler]

Arcticsid. I live 160kms south of Edmonton, so I know the city quite well. By the way I have visited Fairbanks a couple of times. I had a cousin living there. Nice city!

 

[arcticsid]

trav, my door is always open. In fact i havent had a key in years, PM me and i will try to hook up with your cousin. I am glad you like Fairbanks as much as I enoyed Alberta. Canadians don't seem to like people from the "states" all that much, but when they found out I was from Alaska, I was treated with a high regard!

Glad we can share that type of hospitality!

Troy

 

[traveler]

Arcticsid. I will look up there address and pm you later. Although 17 Ave comes to mind. Reference Cdns not liking Americans. In General I think it is more of a case of not understanding each other. You will find Canadians and Americans who travel extensively have a better understanding and respect for each other. We spend Jan - Apr, in Lake Havasu City in AZ, and have many, many American friends we have met over the years. I could go on and on, but perhaps this is not the place for the discussion. I will PM you later on today.. take care..

 

[JakeSnow]

The best place I have found to get bottles is at a wine bar. I tend to walk away with 3 cases of bottles easily.

The best time to ask restaurants, or wine bars for bottles is an hour before they close. I used to bartend and the industry is a fast paced one. The wait staff cannot afford to waste time to get bottles for people, especially without a small tip. Go later almost near closing because bottles are thrown away/recycled at the end of the night and the crowd has simmered down by then. You will also get more bottles Thursday-Sat nights.

I also get inquisitive looks and have to explain I make my own wine and then it looks like I never patron the bar and I feel awkward blah blah. Someone else gets the bottles at the wine bar I visit and uses them to make art. I guess they break and melt the bottles to create tables etc. So now I use the line that I make art with the bottles. But just as a secret between us, my art is wine making.