How to re-bottle wines?

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NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 27, 2009
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NE US
I bought 2 gallon jugs of homemade country blackberry from a guy that made wine as a hobby. I want to break it down into smaller bottles.

I was going to rinse the clean bottles out with tap water and then a final rinse with a small amount of the blackberry wine and drain it before transferring the wine. (Could also use some vodka) Do you think this is a good way to do it? I don't have any sulfites to use...nor do I want to use em even if I had them.

I could also use dilute bleach and then some tap water. But worry the tap water may have some effect on the wine.
 
Why not just treat the bottles with some good no-rinse sanitizer. If you don't like a sulfite solution, you can use iodophor or StarSan.

Transferring to bottles may very well oxidize the wine and shorten its life. You will lessen the oxidation if you do the transfer by racking with a siphon.