Bottling 2008

 

In the wine industry, bottling typically involves drawing wine from a holding tank and
filling it into bottles using a filling machine (filler). The bottles are then corked,
encapsuled, labeled and packed into cartons.

The first step in bottling wine is to unpack empty wine bottles and rinse them with a “squirt” of
nitrogen. In addition, carbon dioxide may be injected into them in attempt to reduce the
level of oxygen within the bottle.

The bottle then enters a filler which fills the bottle with wine and may also inject a small
amount of inert gas (CO2 or nitrogen) on top of the wine to disperse oxygen.

(Bottles have been
corked and are
moving on to receive
their capsules.)

 
The bottle then travels to a corking machine (corker) where a cork is compressed and pushed
into the neck of the bottle. At the same time, the corker vacuums the air out of the bottle to
form a negative pressure space. This removes any oxygen from the headspace, which is
useful as oxygen can ruin the quality of the product by oxidation.
(Corked and capsuled
bottles receive labels.)
After filling and corking, a tin capsule is applied to the neck of the bottle in a capsular. Next the bottle
enters a labelling machine (labeller) where a label is applied. The product is then packed into boxes and
warehoused, ready for sale.

(Finished bottles move down
the line for boxing. Boxing is
done by hand.)
(Dave and Forrest stamp
and label the case boxes.
Rusty uses the forklift
to load the empties
onto the truck for filling. )