a hectic year for the couple. The first truckwas put together for


themin California,withmachinery fromEurope. The assemblerswanted to knowwhy itwas to be so small andwhy theywanted a screwcapper included. Cole explained it’s a differentmarket


than California,with smallerwineries here. “You have to design for themarket


you’re in. Instead of air conditioning on the truckwe put in a heater,” he added. “We knewwhatwewanted andworked with the supplier. The second and third truckswe built here.We’ve come up with a design thatworks for us.” Initially, only 10 to 15 per cent of their


clientswanted screwcaps, but after the first couple of years, the number grew as they found customers really like the convenience of twisting off instead of carrying a corkscrewaround. Last year, two-thirds of their


customers ordered screwcaps. “The notion that only inexpensive


wines are available under screwcaps, is gone.” Artus equipment can handle glass


bottles from187millilitres tomagnums, but themajority they handle are 750ml. A second truckwas built in 2007-08


and itwas a larger unit. Instead of the 1,000 to 1,200 cases a day the first one can handle, the second can bottle 1,600 to 2,000 cases a day. This summer, a third truck is being


built thatwill have the same capacity. And, next in the plans is to convert


the small one to handle sparklingwines. “There’s a growingmarket for


bubbly—as a summer sipper; a deck wine,” explains Cole. He’s found that there are busier times


of year, like spring for bottlingwhite wines, and late summer to get reds out of tanks and ready themfor the new harvest, but basically, they’re busy year- round. Harvest time is down time, and


allows an opportunity to repair machinery and domaintenance. Bottling Tips “There’smore to it than just putting


wine in bottles,” he notes. Wineries need two or threemonths of


lead time before the bottler comes in, because glass, labels and caps all have to be ordered ahead of time. Cole adviseswinemakers to plan


ahead and not to underestimate the lead time required to get labels designed and printed. “As packagingmaterial comes in, make sure it’swhat you ordered.


26 British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Summer 2013


are done in a day or two. Theywork throughout B.C., fromthe


Okanagan to Vancouver Island and the LowerMainland, as far north as Kamloops and Lillooet. Many small B.C.wineries aren’t really


built to accommodate the bottling truck, which is a 32-foot trailer unit, so it can be tricky getting in and out to bottle. Withmany built into the hillside along the side of the valley, space can be an issue. It’s something that should be taken into consideration during construction. However, no difficulties have proven


to be insurmountable, and Cole has found unprecedented growth in the wine industry a real boon to his service. He admits he kept thinking itwould


JUDIE STEEVES


Negin Amanat does a random check during bottling. She has operated an Artus bottling trailer for more than five years.


“We can just put their packaging


component togetherwith theirwine.” There are lots of different options,


including that of foregoing labels and opting instead for a label that is painted on the bottle itself, such as Intrigue Wines of Lake Country has done. That eliminates any problemswith


labelswhen it comes to bottling. For some clients, Cole says, the


vehicles are parked at thewinery for two or threeweeks bottling, butmost


plateau, but the growth continues, he comments. He’s gratified to notice thatwhen he


looks at the list of last year’swinners of the LieutenantGovernor’s Awards for Excellence in B.C.Wines, he sees nine of the 10wineries that received 11 awards arewineries Artus bottled for. “It feels good to be affiliatedwith


winningwineries,” he admits. And, he says, the greatest compliment


is to notice that the first fewtimes they bottle for a newclient thewinemaker ‘hovers,’ but in successive years, “we don’t see themanymore.” Unless, of course, it’s a smallwinery


and thewinemaker is there—busy stacking boxes of newly-filledwine bottles.


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