Wine bottle shortage?

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Here's an idea 💡 For wine bottles I've been buying on average 1 bottle of Aldies Winking Owl brand of wine a week for around $3 each. It cost me around $2 to buy an empty wine bottle on-line or at a local wine supply store.

After 1 year I'll have 52 reusable wine bottles and consumed over 10 gallons of palatable wine. I've often used some of that wine to top off the secondary.

Benefits of this method:

1. Wine to drink
2. Additional wine bottles to use again
3. Topping off secondary
 
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Here's an idea 💡 For wine bottles I've been buying on average 1 bottle of Aldies Winking Owl brand of wine a week for around $3 each. It cost me around $2 to buy an empty wine bottle on-line or at a local wine supply store.

After 1 year I'll have 52 reusable wine bottles and consumed over 10 gallons of palatable wine. I've often used some of that wine to top off the secondary.

Benefits of this method:

1. Wine to drink
2. Additional wine bottles to use again
3. Topping off secondary
I love the 375 ml splits that come with Costco's advent calendar. I considered buying it just for the bottles.

But I don't care for dry wines, and so I would be wasting money for a bunch of wine I know already I am not going to like. (This summer, I participated in several virtual wine tastings - some vendors in my field (IT Security) set them up as a way to get eyes on their product - short sales pitch before a sommelier goes through the wine tasting with participants trying the free wines sent to our homes for this purpose. I sort of liked a couple of the wines, but after 2 of these, I stopped signing up because everyone sends their typical very dry, tannic reds and dry whites. Just not my thing.)

Far cheaper for me to buy the empty bottles. Last fall, I saw a sale for 24 - 375 ml splits for $15 each. Even with the shipping, it was an awesome price.

Right now I have 9 gallons of dessert wine from kits that I want to bottle in the splits soon. That's 90ish bottles.

My manager told me she bought 2 of the Costco advent calendars, and she saves the bottles for me. I fill some of them up with more wine and give them back to her. It all works out! :try
 
Here's an idea 💡 For wine bottles I've been buying on average 1 bottle of Aldies Winking Owl brand of wine a week for around $3 each.
A few years back I purchased Winking Owl for cooking, and was totally surprised that it's drinkable, e.g., open a bottle, half goes in the food, half goes in me. Their Sauvignon Blanc comes in clear Bordeaux bottles (I use for white wines), the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in green Bordeaux, and the Chardonnay is in Chardonnay bottles (not sure if there's another name for these).

But I don't care for dry wines, and so I would be wasting money for a bunch of wine I know already I am not going to like.
This is tough for sweet wine drinkers, as such tastings are geared towards dry. If you get to the southeast USA, try the wineries. In eastern NC, they try to cater to everyone -- the local grapes are Muscadine, Scuppernong, and hybrids from the Florida research station (can't remember name), and these need backsweetening. The taste if different from Vinifera, but you may like it. These wineries often get Vinifera from the western part of the state, so they offer the full range from dry whites & reds to sweet.

I try the wineries from time-to-time, as one of these days someone may surprise me with a native wine that I like. If I don't try it, I'll never know. Their dry whites and reds are typically decent, and besides, it's fun!
 
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Our farrier is also female. She's a former 4H/FFA kid who was in the horse project with my youngest. She does a great job.
 
A few years back I purchased Winking Owl for cooking, and was totally surprised that it's drinkable, e.g., open a bottle, half goes in the food, half goes in me. Their Sauvignon Blanc comes in clear Bordeaux bottles (I use for white wines), the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in green Bordeaux, and the Chardonnay is in Chardonnay bottles (not sure if there's another name for these).


This is tough for sweet wine drinkers, as such tastings are geared towards dry. If you get to the southeast USA, try the wineries. In eastern NC, they try to cater to everyone -- the local grapes are Muscadine, Scuppernong, and hybrids from the Florida research station (can't remember name), and these need backsweetening. The taste if different from Vinifera, but you may like it. These wineries often get Vinifera from the western part of the state, so they offer the full range from dry whites & reds to sweet.

I try the wineries from time-to-time, as one of these days someone may surprise me with a native wine that I like. If I don't try it, I'll never know. Their dry whites and reds are typically decent, and besides, it's fun!
I have a go-to winery in Iowa owned by cousins of one of my best friends (and now I am friends with the cousins, too!). They make a lot of fruit wines but also some wines from their own grapes and they have mead available sometimes, as well.

Before I went there, I wasn't that interested in wine because most of what people buy and serve is dry and often very tannic. I do like a wider range of sweetness than my husband - the more it tastes like koolaid, the happier he is. 😂🤣😂

We do want to explore more of the local wineries here in the upper midwest. We are planning a trip to FL to visit some relatives and catch a few preseason baseball games - maybe next spring. Adding some winery visits to the list of things to do while we are there is a great idea!
 
We do want to explore more of the local wineries here in the upper midwest. We are planning a trip to FL to visit some relatives and catch a few preseason baseball games - maybe next spring. Adding some winery visits to the list of things to do while we are there is a great idea!
It never occurred to me that Florida has wineries, but that's silly, right? They have a grape research center in Gainesville that apparently is influential.

https://hos.ifas.ufl.edu/grape/
I have family in the St. Augustine area, but we've never visited wineries while there. That may change ...

https://tryfloridawine.com/florida-wineries-map.php
 
It never occurred to me that Florida has wineries, but that's silly, right? They have a grape research center in Gainesville that apparently is influential.

https://hos.ifas.ufl.edu/grape/
I have family in the St. Augustine area, but we've never visited wineries while there. That may change ...

https://tryfloridawine.com/florida-wineries-map.php
San Sebastian Winery is in St Augustine. They make some nice wines!

Also, my youngest did an internship at UF in Gainesville. It's one of the finest agricultural studies universities in the nation!
 
My friend whose cousins own the Iowa winery also has friends in FL and got introduced to some of the citrus wines made there. She saves bottles for me, and to bring this thread back around to bottles and delabeling, I love those bottles because the labels just peel right off with little residue after I soak the bottles in hot water.
 
My friend whose cousins own the Iowa winery also has friends in FL and got introduced to some of the citrus wines made there. She saves bottles for me, and to bring this thread back around to bottles and delabeling, I love those bottles because the labels just peel right off with little residue after I soak the bottles in hot water.
we seem to walk a straight thread as a drunk on the white line, lol
Dawg
 
I love the 375 ml splits that come with Costco's advent calendar. I considered buying it just for the bottles.

But I don't care for dry wines, and so I would be wasting money for a bunch of wine I know already I am not going to like. (This summer, I participated in several virtual wine tastings - some vendors in my field (IT Security) set them up as a way to get eyes on their product - short sales pitch before a sommelier goes through the wine tasting with participants trying the free wines sent to our homes for this purpose. I sort of liked a couple of the wines, but after 2 of these, I stopped signing up because everyone sends their typical very dry, tannic reds and dry whites. Just not my thing.)

Far cheaper for me to buy the empty bottles. Last fall, I saw a sale for 24 - 375 ml splits for $15 each. Even with the shipping, it was an awesome price.

Right now I have 9 gallons of dessert wine from kits that I want to bottle in the splits soon. That's 90ish bottles.

My manager told me she bought 2 of the Costco advent calendars, and she saves the bottles for me. I fill some of them up with more wine and give them back to her. It all works out! :try
I bought the same 375ml bottle deal last fall too.

Most of my wine is aging in 3 gallon carboys. My plan is to bottle a case (24) of 375 and 3 750's per carboy them drink the bottles before I bottle the next carboy.

I figure it's better off aging in the carboy then the bottle, plus the 375's help me limit my drinking. It was just too easy to have an extra glass when the 750 ml bottle was just sitting there half full. It's much easier to stop if having another glass means going to the basement and opening another bottle.

Not sure what I'll do come next fall, bottle in 750's I have saved or buy more carboys for next year's run.
 
It was just too easy to have an extra glass when the 750 ml bottle was just sitting there half full. It's much easier to stop if having another glass means going to the basement and opening another bottle.
This is very true.

I keep a 375 screw cap bottle handy -- open a 750, fill the 375, and put it in the cupboard. Sometimes I have to be very forceful with myself to keep me away from the cupboard.
 
Anyone willing to drive to Hydes, MD, this winery has bottles for $8.50/case.


fa0377b22e0c203c9addb7569fef4ae9

by Phineas M Deford
Published: January 20, 2022 (5 days ago)
$8.50
Category
4. Equipment for Sale
Location
HYDES, MD
Boordy Vineyards (MD) has the following glass available for sale, in plain white cartons:

665 cases “Prospero”
• Color: Flint
• Style: Bordeaux – cork closure
• Size: 750ml
• Height: 323mm
• Weight: 500g

60 cases “Caprice”
• Color: Antique Green
• Style: Bordeaux – cork closure
• Size: 750ml
• Height: 312mm
• Weight: 550g
Price is $8.50/case
Email [email protected] for additional information or to request spec sheets
Delivery possible for an additional fee
Show Contact Information
 
The bottle shortage is real, but recently I've detected some improvement. Since last fall, there have been basically none available at a reasonable price. Then a month or so ago, there started to be all you wanted at $25 per case. Then last week I saw $16 per case and today, I bought 20 cases at $12 per case. (NAPA Fermentation supplies) Mind you these same bottles last year were $6 per case. But at least I can complete bottling the 2020. Hopefully by next fall when it's time to bottle the 2021, prices will be back down to more usual levels.

And for all you that peel labels-you have more patience than I do. I hate it and only do it in an emergency. But I tell all the people I give wine to, that if it comes from me with no label, I want the bottle back. It mostly works.
 
And for all you that peel labels-you have more patience than I do. I hate it and only do it in an emergency. But I tell all the people I give wine to, that if it comes from me with no label, I want the bottle back. It mostly works.
I finally, just this weekend, finished washing/delabeling the last of the 20 or so cases of bottles I got last year from someone in my town who posted on Craig's List. It's good to finally have them delabelled and clean and put away for future use! I have also stocked up on new bottles and told people I want only my own bottles back, since my labels soak off easily.
 

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