Bottling of White Wine

As long as clean, disease-free fruit is used and proper steps to minimize oxygen pickup are followed, most wines should contain enough free SO₂ at this point (50 ppm added after first racking and 15 to 25 ppm after each additional racking) to protect the wine if it is carefully bottled.  Just as in racking, the siphon hose should stay below the surface of the wine in the container receiving the wine.  Bottles can be sealed with either corks or screw caps.  Corks require special tools to insert and run the risk of causing cork taint in the wine, but they are traditional and pleasing to the eye.  Plastic top corks that can be inserted and removed by hand are also available.  Reusable screw caps can make a good seal and are easy to use, but give the connotation of cheap wine to some people.  If corks are used, the bottles should be kept upright for a couple of days to allow the release of pressure from the headspace of the bottle caused by inserting the cork.  The bottles should then be placed on their sides.  If bottles are to be reused, they should be cleaned to remove any visible material and then soaked in 180°F hot water for 20 minutes.  The key to reusing bottles is to immediately clean them after their use so no material dries on the inner surfaces.