New Winery

When scheduling your first bottling date with us, we will confirm all of your packaging specifications so that adjustments can be made, if needed prior to product ordering. we will request manufacturer spec sheets of your bottles, labels, corks and capsules. If you have not yet sourced your bottling materials we would be happy to put you in contact with our preferred vendors. Before each bottling date we will require a spec sheet for the coming bottling.

Wine Specs

The wine spec work order must be completed and sent to us no later than 2 weeks prior to your scheduled bottling date. This provides us with all the necessary information to ensure your bottling goes as smoothly as possible; by providing the varietal, volume, bottle type, labels, corks, capsules, etc.

Winery

Please provide clean hoses to be used for volume transfer from tank to our pump on the bottling truck. Please ensure that the wine is at the appropriate temperature for bottling, or the lables will struggle to stick. Appropriate temperature is at minimum 60 degrees Fahrenheit. In the hot summer months the wine will need to be 70 degrees to prevent condensation on the bottles. Winery will need to supply food grade nitrogen gas, in cylinder or bulk cylinder cradles. We recommend having four 281cf cylinders per 1000 cases.

Day of bottling

We will arrive approximately 1.5-2 hours before the scheduled bottling start time. Please be sure to provide a minimum of 4 employees (one being certified to operate a fork lift) that are capable of assisting with the bottling process; we will advise a time of scheduling your bottling session. Also, please have all necessary supplies (bottles, labels, corks, etc.) ready for bottling.

Electrical

We require dedicated 100 Amp, 208v, 3 phase power with a neutral within 70’ of the trucks bottling location. Preferred set up is a winery installed Hubbell 5100R9W receptacle. If the winery doesn’t have 3 phase power, a generator with a minimum 65KW, 3 phase with a neutral must be rented from your local equipment supply company. We will then wire into the generator.

Wine Fitting/Pump

On site our mobile pump will be placed between the bottling truck and the tank we are sourcing from. We will provide 50’ of clean hose from the trailer to the pump. The winery will need to supply the hose line from the tank to the pump, our pump uses standard 1.5” tri-clover fittings.

Bottling speed

The line is capable of bottling 1400 cases in 8 bottling hours. Between each wine you plan to bottle, the line will be down while the transition is made from one wine to the next and the labels are set. If a different bottle is used, the down time will be increased. For estimates of what will be able to be bottled in a given day, remove 75 cases from the total for each wine transition. For example, if you have 5 wines to bottle, you will not be able to bottle more that 1000 cases in 8 hours of bottling. When reviewing your bottling day spec sheet we will work with you to optimize what we will be able to accomplish.

Labels

We can accommodate front and back labels printed on the same roll, or front and back labels printed on separate rolls. Hillcrest bottling preference is the front and back on the same roll.

To ensure maximum efficiencty the following specifications are required:

• Labels to be wound in the #4 position, please let us know if additional information is needed

• The core at the center of the label roll is 76mm in diameter

• Maximum diameter of label roll is 400 mm

• Minimum spacing between label is 5mm, maximum spacing of 30mm

• Minimum space between label and backing page edge is 2mm, maximum is 5mm

• Minimum label width is 20mm, maximum is 300mm

• Minimum label height is 20mm, maximum is 140mm