Wine packaging process, machinery and materials

July 2nd, 2007 · 1 Comment

In the wine industry packaging is of immense importance as it is often on the basis of the packaging that consumers decide on their purchases. This is why considerable emphasis is placed on the aesthetic appeal of the final packaging. Sales and revenue figures have proved that innovative packaging has lead to incredible increase in sales and revenue.

Wine packaging machinery comprise of the bulk of the machinery used in final output. This is mainly because very little or in certain cases no machinery is used in the actual production of superior quality wine as the accumulation and fermentation takes place in controlled atmospheric conditions within wine cellars.

Types of Wine Packaging Machinery

The types of machinery used in wine packaging are:

Filling machines which pour the wine into bottles or pouches.
Lid-ding, closing, and sealing machines which place the corks or crown caps onto the bottles.
Cartooning machines.
Palletizing and unitizing machines.
Labeling and marking machines which provide identification markings on the wine package.

Machineries with multiple functions and enhanced capabilities has made the process of wine packaging lot more cost effective as well as rendered the appearance of the final product extremely alluring. Leading wine bottling plant manufacturer is Amcor, Australia.

The introduction of Vac-Wrap force receptive labeler had lead to the incorporation of the following features:

Vacuum-zed cover conveyor for transferring up to 4 labels on the body of the wine bottles.
Dispensation of body labels from single or multiple webs.
Application of full or spot wrap labels to the product’s neck of the bottle.
Increased speeds: 150 products for every minute.
An accuracy of +/-1mm.

Wine Packaging Materials

Wine is primarily packaged and marketed in glass bottles and sealed with a cork. The shape and the color of the wine bottles differ according to the content or the vintage of the wine.

The materials used in the final packaging include white paper board, duplex board with white back, art paper, silver and gold paper, ivory cardboard, and copper plating. New matte, pressure sensitive labels are being used to create a unique ‘no-label’ frosted look.
Exquisite design and craftsmanship are also an essential part of wine packaging.

An emerging trend is wine packaging has been observed to be the replacement of corks with screw caps. Certain wine varieties are also packaged in pouches or even heavy plastic bags placed within cardboard boxes known as bag-in-boxes.