Darling Cellars is synonymous with quality wines at competitive prices.

Darling Cellars is synonymous with quality wines at competitive prices.
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Our comprehensive range of wine offers something for everyone! At Darling Cellars investment continues in the winery and cellar with some of the most modern and up to date winemaking equipment in our industry today.

A modern bottling line, new presses, a barrel maturation cellar, a new grape off-loading system and continuing replanting of vineyards, to include noble cultivars, all contribute to our advances in contemporary winemaking.

Darling Cellars provides a comprehensive range of services to the wine industry. We have an on-site laboratory, processing facility, bottling plant and storage facility that are available to anyone wanting to outsource production, bottling and storage.

In the bottling plant we have recently invested in a Bertolaso Filling Monobloc machine. The monobloc is enclosed with a hood and has extraction to maintain a controlled and clean filling environment. The wine feeds into the bowl from the bottom and the level is controlled by a pneumatic valve which is activated by a capacity probe / float. An inert gas blanket is created in the bowl to protect the wine from oxygen pickup. The sloped product tank (bowl) enables complete draining for top grade bowl sanitization when doing cleaning. The filler is predisposed for connection with the site’s automated CIP (Cleaning in Place) and sanitation system and is equipped with a manifold for the distribution of sanitizing product to all the filling valves. Watertight dummy bottles ensure recirculation of the sanitizing product.

The highly effective 6-phase filling cycle comprises the following steps:

  • The filling valve penetrates the bottle through the bottle mouth and then forms an airtight seal of the bottle.
  • Pre-evacuation follows which removes the air from the bottle using vacuum.
  • An electro-pneumatically controlled valve injects inert gas into the bottle, thus minimising oxygen pick-up when the product flows into the bottle.
  • Filling commences and the filling valve is controlled by a pneumatic cylinder on top of the bowl, controlled by a PLC and based on the bottle capacity.
  • Self-levelling is also electro-pneumatically controlled using an inert gas circuit and ejects all exhausted gas to atmosphere and not back into the product.
  • The 6th and final phase is inert gas injection in the bottle neck, thus replacing the air occupied by the pipe inside the bottle with inert gas, before corking.

A self-adhesive Labeller also forms part of Darling Cellars’ investment in the latest technology.

This automatic rotary machine applies self-adhesive labels onto round wine bottles at an output of 7 000 bottles per hour. It can also apply self-adhesive wrap-around labels onto round sparkling wine bottles. This custom labeller has 10 bottle platforms which rotate electronically by stepper motors and are controlled by a PLC. Its equipped with 4 labelling stations for the application of a front label, a neck ring label, a seal-of-origin sticker and a back label. The custom multi-format star-wheels ensure the machine can handle a range of bottle diameters from 55 to 115mm.

Special features include:

  • The addition of Keyence de-ionizers which reduce static charges on particularly clear labels.   
  • A localised lubrication system.
  • Missing label detection system with alarm signals and automatic stopping of the machine after a programmed number of consecutive missing labels.
  • A final pressing station at the labeller outfeed for additional label smoothing out offers a unique benefit.

Please contact Marius Botha mbotha@darlingcellars.co.za if you need more information about bottling services available at Darling Cellars.

Connect with us:

 +27.224922276        +27.864651130        info@darlingcellars.co.za
Mamre Station, R315, Darling 7345, South Africa

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