Washing Wednesday - Wine bottles

In another three weeks we will be going back to the Vernon Vintners to bottle another batch of wine.  This time we will have a variety of red and white wine that five couples had pick one type each.  With this group, we are able to have six bottle of each of the wine that was picked.  The five different wines are as follows: Italian Viognier, Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, White Trio, Red trio and Chilean Malbec.  We have started collecting more empty bottles from our neighbors and I started getting them ready.  First I take the bottle and soak them in warm water and ten tablespoon of baking soda.  This process makes it easy for me to take out old labels.  Once it has soaked for at least 30 minutes, I start peeling them and the more sticky one, I use a scrubber and whatever stickiness is left on the bottle, my hubby removes them with a paint thinner.  Then I wash them again and sort all the bottle according to sizes and color.  So far we have three boxes of 12 which should be enough.  I have decided to clean some more later, just in case some of the other bottles are not up to the right height and cannot be used.  When we get our appointment to come in, we will bring all three boxes and then we will have to clean them there again in their special wine bottle washer.  We are getting excited because when everything is done we will have a great variety of wine with our own label for our house guest to try.  Luckily, I have a son in law who is so creative and an amazing graphic designer who will do our labels for this next batch of wine.