Q: Do you know how to successfully remove a wine label? As we're building our wine collection, I've been wanting to remove wine labels and keep a journal of them alongside our notes.
Sent by Erin
Editor: The best method I've heard of for preserving the quality of wine labels is to actually bake the empty bottles for about 10 minutes in a 300° F oven. This melts the adhesive and lets you peel the label off (be careful of the hot bottles!). If this doesn't work or you are wary of putting bottles in your oven, try soaking the bottles in hot water.
Anyone else have advice on removing wine labels?
Related: Hello! My Name Is... : Use Name Tag Stickers as Easy Labels for Homebrews
(Images: Wine producers; Mary Gorman-McAdams)
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I make wine from wine kits for which I reuse bottles that I get from friends and family. So I do this plenty. The best way that I've found to remove most labels is to boil some water in a kettle and, using a funnel, pour it into the bottle. The glue on the bottle warms up and makes it much easier to remove it. If it doesn't come off that way, a lot of peeling and scraping is usually necessary.
I would love to suggest our product called Labeloff. Labeloff is family owned and run for over 30 years and is made in the United States. We have a 98.5% success rate and you don't have to risk burning your fingers. Give us a try next time!
There seem to be products specifically for this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQa_Dy49dNw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_qOiNChdsA&feature=related (there are some funny bloopers at the end of this one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOPeXckhlDk&feature=related
Here is another video to add to the list above:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY20eHjN5sw&feature=related
I've used the label lift removers before with great success. I'm trying to find where I bought them/what they were called...if I do, I'll share :)
And I found them. I have a prime acct, so I do a lot of shopping on this site. I'm guessing the Labeloff ones mentioned above are pretty much the same. They work really well
http://www.amazon.com/Wine-Appeal-Label-Remover-Kit/dp/B000ZK7XCI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1335473613&sr=8-4
I did this for about 200 wine bottles for wedding centerpieces and I tried every single method on youtube and google. Baking, freezing, chemicals, dishwashing, peeling, scratching, soaking, everything. Do what Don.Mcneil.Jr says. He's right.
If you want to just clean off the bottle, the hot water method will work, but if you're looking to preserve the label I would avoid it -- the label is much more likely to tear, and even if it doesn't, it will get wrinkly and probably not dry nicely. I'd recommend a dry method, like the oven or the label lift offs.
Oxyclean! I learned this tip from a beer making book, and it works really well at getting the label right off.