There are a handful of bottles that we’ve had sitting in our garage for years. They were consumed on special occasions and/or had labels that have significant meaning to us. I’ve tried to get labels off in the past and sometimes it works to soak them in water, but it is far from a fool proof technique. Oftentimes the paper of the sticker ends up weakening in the water and the labels tear.
I read in Wall Street Journal’s wine sections an article with ideas on how to easily remove labels. Short of buying expensive kits, the next easiest and most effective way is to pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. When pre-heated put clean bottles (be sure to remove the wrap from around the bottle neck), on the racks in the oven for ten minutes.
Be sure to have some sturdy oven mitts when removing the bottles! Remove the bottles from the oven and immediately peel labels. On 7 out of 10 bottles that we tried with this technique the label peeled off quickly and cleanly.
I decided to frame the labels but they could also be put into a blank book to reference or be framed individually.
HipMamaJenn 