Removing wine labels

[dockhl]

can't seem to pull up info on this in the forums, altho I am sure it has been covered !

I have some lovely labels that I'd like to keep and soaking them in hot water doesn't seem to be pulling them off the bottle.

Can someone suggest something or point me in the right direction, please?

Thank you !

Kathy

[Gifted Gourmet]

using the search "wine+labels" brings up these threads .. but that will take a bit of time to explore ...

Aha! none other than our one and only Daniel Rogov has the answer: Stratsplace

[winesonoma]

Here you go. http://www.wineenthusiast.com/shopping/pro...CF-4DF2266A7678

[dockhl]

You are the best ! I LOVE eGullet !

Kathy

[Gifted Gourmet]

Dunno about the best but we are speedy! Eleven minutes to the answer (clocked it!) .. not bad at all ...

[mike volker]

Those label removers don't work on all bottles!!!!

Best,

Mike

[afn33282]

We sell something at the wine shop that is basically a big rectangle of clear tape. It sort of splits the front half of the label from the back half which is glued to the bottle. According to my boss they are using stronger glue nowadays. I personally would prefer to have the label in a non-laminated state, sort of, but you takes what you can get, I guess. If you like I can get you the name of the product and maybe a source.

Edit: Heh heh. The perils of laziness. Should have checked the links first. Winesonoma's link takes you to the product we have.

Edited July 9, 2005 by afn33282 (log)

[markabauman]

I've used a similar, if not the same product with varying results, depending, as stated, on the strength of the label adhesive as well as peeling technique. I've tried the following which has sometimes worked a little better: a combination of first soaking the label, letting it dry out, then use the sticky tape.

[Gaucho]

Ive tried various of the commercially available products, with the same variable results posted above. As far as the adhesives used, I wonder if it would help loosen up things if you poured boiling water into the bottle first...? The idea of soaking the label first is good, but some labels dont live after you get them wet. I wonder if the heat from the boiling water would help any on getting the darned adhesive from losing at least some of its strength.

[MaxH]

... I have some lovely labels that I'd like to keep and soaking them in hot water doesn't seem to be pulling them off the bottle.

Can someone suggest something or point me in the right direction, please?

I don't know anything about "commercial products" for this but I've been removing labels very smoothly for about 30 years, from many but not all bottles, by exploiting a principle that's been around much longer than that. People who've done much wet photographic printing know it implicitly or explicitly, and it shows up in various places, including I think some of the home "formula books" that were so popular as references in late 19th and early 20th c.

The principle is that various gelatinous and albuminous materials tend to be softened by alkali and hardened by acid. This applies to "animal" and other natural glues although it is no help with some plastic-type glues which I have seen gradually increasing in use with wine labels (they are commonplace under tin-can labels and labels for various plastic packaging).

Armed with this useful principle I load a batch of bottles upright in a deep pot such as an 8-liter (8-quart) pasta pot. Fill the pot (and the bottles too) with warm-to-hot tap water and add a tablespoon or two of clear household ammonia to the water in the pot. That's a convenient, low-residue source of alkali. Forget about it for a few hours, or overnight; then on revisiting the pot, many labels will slide or peel off easily, very intact (or will have lifted off by themselves), ready for drying on a towel. For a flat label, do the last of the drying between sheets of absorbent paper under a weight, and for a very smooth clean surface, do this with plastic film against the front side of the label and absorbent paper against the back. (I nearly wrote "obverse" for the front side -- as in "obvious" -- common technical or trade talk; but I remembered that lately for some reason in the US people have been writing "obverse" when they mean "reverse" and this has robbed the word of utility. O the times ...)

Some labels with synthetic glues will be hopeless for clean removal like this, though the bottles can be dried and passed to the Advanced Methods Department as described by the response with the wide clear tape.

Good luck -- Max

Edited July 24, 2005 by MaxH (log)