Removing Wine Labels for Collection

[R D'Orville]

I find trouble removing a lot of wine labels which I want to start a collection of the gems that I have savored. By soaking the bottle in a pail of water I can only remove some labels while most of them will not leave the bottle. HELP, HELP, HELP! Please give me some hints on how to remove those wine labels that are stubborn without tearing or spoiling them.

[Bucko]

There is NO easy answer due to the various glues. The best option is a commercial product called "Labelof" Wine Label Remover. The product is available from various places e.g. IWA, 1-800-527-4072, $50 US per 100.

Bucko

[R D'Orville]

Thanks Bucko, but over here in the Far East we don't have the product you mentioned, so I'm stuck just like the label on the wine bottle!
Anyone out there with suggestions on removal of bottle labels????....%^)....

[Bucko]

The problem with removing wine labels is that modern glues are meant to prevent just that happening. Wineries were embarrassed to see their labels falling off when they were put into ice buckets for chilling. Thus, there was a demand for glues that would be waterproof. You just cannot get those labels off. I've seen all kinds of receipes over the years such as water and ammonia -- they don't work. If you do find a way, please let us know.

Bucko

[Thomas]

So, Bucko, you inadvertantly bring up a subject for a rant: why on earth do restaurants insist on ruining the taste of wine by taking an already refrigerated (hence, too cold) bottle and then almost freezing it in ice?

Instead of changing the glue, wineries should have sent their wine to restaurants with the following warning (we are so fond of warnings these days).

WARNING: If the label begins to fall off the bottle, you have left it too long in the ice bucket. Remove the bottle from the bucket--now, and then throw the bucket out or save it for champagne use only.

[Bucko]

No problem for me -- I tell them when I order the wine NO ICE BUCKET! I like wines around 70 degrees -- lets the nuances come forth.

Bucko

[cellarmate]

Try filling the bottle with hot hot water and then running hot water over the label. Many of the new labels are simply dry stick labels like bumper stickers. Be prepared to dry the label on waxed paper as it will be ready to re stick to anything it finds.......Just found you today. Great site looking forward to more visits

[R D'Orville]

Oy Cellarmate, welcome aboard and thanks for the hint. Will be trying it out on my collection of wine empties during the Lunar (Chinese) New Year weekend which begins tomorrow. I'll post the results of the trials when I get back (will be trying out turpentine as a solvent too). I've emailed some of the wineries about it and one offered to send me their labels.... how nice....while some don't even bother to acknowledge receipt......Bye!.......%^)...

[mrdutton]

I haven't tried the label-off gizmos, but as I understand it they are sheets of plastic with glue on one side. You put the glue agains the face of the wine bottle label and then pull. The glue removes the "face" of the label but not the entire thing.

I fill my kitchen sink with hot water and then fill each wine bottle with hot water and then allow them to soak. Some labels are inclined to come off immediately, others take a while. For the really stubborn labels that don't seem to want to come off at all, I use a single edged razor blade in a scraper handle (like the scrapers used to clean stuff off of glass) and I carefully scrape off the label. Just don't slip!

[R D'Orville]

Found some good hints on how to remove wine labels at this site: www.stratsplace.com/how_label.html
It gives several options and is quite a useful site. Ciao...%^)...