I was lucky enough during a Cameron Station yard sale to come across an unwanted leather bound wine dossier complete with space to place tasting notes, cellar locations, dates consumed, vitners/producer logs, types, regions, names, years, personal experiences with the wines ect, ect, ect and so forth. The best part of it however is the fact that you can take labels from your favorite wines and strap them on to the page across from all your notes in the event that if you forget anything, you at least have the label to look at to cross reference when you go to a restaurant or store.
That is, of course, if you are able to get the label off the bottle! Upon receiving this gift I did many a trial and error with tea kettle steam. Some bottles peeling off the labels like you would when removing a stamp from it's sticky film and others like attempting to remove bubblegum from a hand knitted scarf leaving both as you found them.
I've seen things on tv and in magazines that you'd pay money for to make things happen and I don't know if those things even do the job. I had several people tell me to use just steam from a kettle and that worked for them but it was a mess and many a failure for me.
The real solution I discovered tonight, removing three bottle labels for my dossier with very little effort at all and in two cases none what so ever. The very first step is to have a washed out bottle that has been left at room temperature for several hours (especially if dealing with a spirit that's been in the freezer or white wine that hasn't been left unrefridgerated for a few hours)
Fill a kettle up with enough water to fill almost an entire bottle of wine (700-725 ml) once the kettle boils, let the steam run over the label you wish to remove only for a few seconds while rubbing your finger gently over the label (This helps to loosen up the label without getting it too wet to handle) take the boiling hot water from the kettle and slowly poor it into the bottle until the water is directly over the level of where the label ends. Using a hand towel or oven mit, grab the neck of the bottle and hold sturdy taking your other hand and pick at the bottom left or right corner of the bottle until you have hold of a piece of the label and slowly remove.
This method is full proof! I've had problems with bottles in the past, but this way works without little effort and much less noise! If you have a dossier ready or another form of spirit journal, if you take the label and place it directly onto a page, the glue will almost instantly redry making little effort to preserve the label as well.
Hopefully you will take this information and begin your own dossier or use the labels for an artistic tangent.
That is, of course, if you are able to get the label off the bottle! Upon receiving this gift I did many a trial and error with tea kettle steam. Some bottles peeling off the labels like you would when removing a stamp from it's sticky film and others like attempting to remove bubblegum from a hand knitted scarf leaving both as you found them.
I've seen things on tv and in magazines that you'd pay money for to make things happen and I don't know if those things even do the job. I had several people tell me to use just steam from a kettle and that worked for them but it was a mess and many a failure for me.
The real solution I discovered tonight, removing three bottle labels for my dossier with very little effort at all and in two cases none what so ever. The very first step is to have a washed out bottle that has been left at room temperature for several hours (especially if dealing with a spirit that's been in the freezer or white wine that hasn't been left unrefridgerated for a few hours)
Fill a kettle up with enough water to fill almost an entire bottle of wine (700-725 ml) once the kettle boils, let the steam run over the label you wish to remove only for a few seconds while rubbing your finger gently over the label (This helps to loosen up the label without getting it too wet to handle) take the boiling hot water from the kettle and slowly poor it into the bottle until the water is directly over the level of where the label ends. Using a hand towel or oven mit, grab the neck of the bottle and hold sturdy taking your other hand and pick at the bottom left or right corner of the bottle until you have hold of a piece of the label and slowly remove.
This method is full proof! I've had problems with bottles in the past, but this way works without little effort and much less noise! If you have a dossier ready or another form of spirit journal, if you take the label and place it directly onto a page, the glue will almost instantly redry making little effort to preserve the label as well.
Hopefully you will take this information and begin your own dossier or use the labels for an artistic tangent.
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