Portavin New Zealand is equipped with a “state of the art” 4,500 bottles per hour Italian MBF high speed automated bottling line fitted with latest technology PLC controls and inert gas protection. All equipment and procedures are designed to achieve the BRC/IANZ accreditations in May/June 2010.  Our staff are committed to ensure clients bottling meet the highest expectations.

As a client you are more than welcome to be present at time of bottling and be a part of the process, we supply work stations and data connections should you feel the need to plug in your laptop and keep yourself updated with your day job whilst at Portavin New Zealand.

Wine Bottling Line 1 Functions:

• Fill
• Screw cap or cork
• PVC or Tin cap application
• Label
• Pack into cartons
• Print and apply barcodes
• Carton print
• Pack onto pallets and apply stretch wrap.

Bottle Sizes:

• 750ml Riesling.
• 750ml Burgundy: Lightweight, Punted and Premium.
• 750ml Claret: Lightweight, Punted, Premium, Super Premium and Reverse Taper.
• 1,000ml Claret: Punted.
• Other bottles to those noted above, including imported, may be possible and samples will need to be submitted to ensure compatibility.
• Max bottle height 365mm.

Line Speed:

• Max. 4,500bph.

Factors that can potentially reduce production rates include screw closure application, wine temperature, wine CO2 levels and non-standard packaging configurations.

Equipment:

• Depalletising - Semi-automatic airbag.
• Filling MBF Synchrofill monoblock.
  • Inverted bottle rinsing using filtered UV sterilized water.
  • 24 head low vacuum filler using carbon dioxide or inert gas protection.
  • 4 head vacuum corker with headspace evacuation and carbon dioxide injection, suitable for natural, agglomerate or synthetic corks.
  • 4 head screw cap applicator able to apply 30x 60mm screw closures.
• Bottle printer - ink jet 32 character capacity (Note: julian date and time =13 characters) to apply a small identification code at base of bottle for traceability.
• Capsule applicator - Robino and Galandrino.
  • 4 head heat shrink for PVC capsules.
  • 4 head spin on for Tin or Polylaminate capsules.
• Labeller - PE Master 3 head for pressure sensitive (self adhesive) labels, applies sets of 3 labels, including front, back, split front, medals, neck labels and cigar band type labels.
• Carton Packing - HMPS.
  • Carton over-packer using hot melt glue adhesive. All laydown configured cartons are hand packed.
• Carton Printing - Imaje dot matrix ink jet, single line max 40 characters. Print can be no lower than 75mm from base of carton and no higher than 50mm from top.

• Fill level inspection.
• Missing cork/screw closure inspection.
• Missing capsule inspection.

Wine Specifications:

• Bulk wine delivered for bottling to be at 16-20 degrees Celcius, optimum wine temperature for bottling is 16-20 degrees Celcius.
• Filtration: For Portavin to provide the most efficient, cost effective bottling service, we recommend wines be delivered at turbidity levels suitable for the grade of filtration selected (see filtration chart in Technical and Oenological).

For sterile filtration a turbidity of <1NTU is set to ensure wine being bottled does not block filters. Blocked filters can reduce efficiency, increase costs, incur wine losses and can contribute to variations in DO levels.

Options for wines delivered with turbidity levels outside specification include filtration in the tank farm prior to bottling, review grade of filtration to be used at bottling, in-line filter during bottling. Portavin can measure turbidity prior to delivery if required.

Label Specifications:

Note: These are specific to individual labellers so please ensure details are correct prior to ordering labels and it is important to ensure the maximum label height is compatible with bottle label panel.

• Front, back and other labels must be on separate rolls with left hand leading ie. Rolling direction number 4.

• Max. label width = 140mm Max. label height = 190mm
• Max roll diameter = 290mm Roll core diameter = 76mm
• Min. application height for front and back labels is 18mm from base of bottle and 65mm for medals etc.
• Most label shapes are compatible with our equipment however any unusual shapes or sizes approaching our maximum parameters should be referred to Portavin.

Batch Coding and Carton Decoration:

• Bottle printer - ink jet 32 character capacity (Note: julian date and time =13 characters) to apply an identification code at base of bottle for traceability.
• Carton Printing - Imaje dot matrix ink jet, single line max 40 characters. Print can be no lower than 75mm from base of carton and no higher than 50mm from top.
• Carton Barcodes - Imaje Thermal Transfer, printed off-line and manually applied to either flat or formed carton. Label dimensions 175mm x 58mm. For recommended positioning of barcode labels please click on this link to see “Carton - Barcode and Text Positioning details".

Client Requirements:

• All client supplied dry goods must be at Portavin New Zealand by the Tuesday of the week prior to bottling.
• Bulk wine to arrive a minimum of 2 days prior to scheduled bottling date (within specification) and in agreement with Portavin’s Scheduler.