Bottling at North 42 Degrees Estate Winery
Bottling at North 42 Degrees Estate Winery

North 42 Degrees Estate Winery was bottling their red wines this weekend and it was a site to behold.

The Essex Pelee Island Coast winery rolled in an 18-wheeler on Saturday that has been completely outfitted with a bottling line. The 53 foot long mobile unit, owned by Custom Quality Bottling in Campbellford, Ontario, was on site for half a day pushing out bottles of North 42’s reds at a rate of about 52 bottles per minute.

An 18 wheeler full of wine? I like the sounds of that.
An 18 wheeler full of wine? I like the sounds of that.

With just over 5000 litres of red wine to bottle, North 42 Degrees has to reach out for bottling help as they are without a bottling line of their own. Word on street is that for wineries which produce under 30,000 cases, it’s not financially viable to invest in a bottling line. North 42 does 5000 cases a year.

Bottles sliding down the line.
Bottles sliding down the line.

Owners Martin Gorski and Suzanne Dajczak love the buzz it creates at the winery with the staff.

“It’s a great team building thing. We get a lot of instant gratification,” Martin says. “Rarely do you get that in this industry. We’re bottling 2013 now. It’s been a long time. The guys that planted this stuff and grew this stuff have long forgot it. With bottling you go from whats in the tank to the finished product instantly.”

Packaged and ready to sell!
Packaged and ready to sell!