Brand-new mega bottle washer arrives at Delicata

This week, Delicata received and started installing the winery’s new state-of-the-art bottle washing machine.

This mega piece of kit is an integral part of the recent overhaul of the bottling line and Delicata’s environmental commitment to running the winery’s own eco-friendly bottle return system.

Delicata collects the winery’s environmentally friendly returnable bottles to reuse them. Their labels, capsules and screwcaps are removed. Each bottle gets thoroughly washed, sterilised, checked and refilled with wine, time and again, for numerous cycles until the end of their lifespan, after which they are being recycled.

Annually, the Delicata winery saves a total of 550.000 kg of new glass, representing a carbon dioxide emission reduction equivalent to the effect of taking at least 50 cars off the road for a whole year.

The new bottle washing machine will help make this process more energy-saving and overall efficient.

The new stainless steel, computerised bottle washer was commissioned and tailormade overseas. It weighs in at 10.5 tonnes and is about the size of a truck. Measuring 7.8 m L x 3.3 m W x 2.6 m H, it was no sinecure operation maneuvering it inside the winery building. The new equipment is expected to be up and running in a couple of weeks’ time when it will replace its soon-to-be decommissioned smaller 30-years-old version.