Importers Strips/BackLabels???

I was thinking (yeah...it does happen occasionally) driving into work:
Most/all imported wines have an importer's strip/back label pasted on the btl. Presumably (I think) the wnry/cantina/bodega/etc has the wine already bttld & labeled by the time the importer places his order w/ them.
At what point in time is that importer's strip/back label applied?? Does the winery print them up for the importer?? Or does the importer provide them to the wnry?? Or are they applied when the wine arrives at the importer's warehouuse??
Not a profound question...but just sorta curious.

And one final question: Does the importer apply a special importer's label to those wines that have been Parkerized?? So this thread can easily segue into a Parker-bashing thread??

Tom

I believe the labels are applied at a later time and probably at the importer's warehouse, not unlike the "bond" situation at wineries after the tax has been paid. In my home wine making, I recycle any and all bottles that friends save for me and the importers' labels are almost always affixed with a different type of glue, making it either easier or harder to remove than the wineries' labels.

I believe the labels are applied at a later time and probably at the importer's warehouse, not unlike the "bond" situation at wineries after the tax has been paid. In my home wine making, I recycle any and all bottles that friends save for me and the importers' labels are almost always affixed with a different type of glue, making it either easier or harder to remove than the wineries' labels.

Howie,
Having removed a fair number of labels myself...sometimes it's the same glue, sometimes it's not. Sometimes the importer's back label
is applied over another one in the wine's native language. But it's hard to imagine that the importer would have to open all those
cases in the warehouse and hand-label each btl.
Tom

The answer, Tom, is: it depends.

Sometimes the bottles sit in bins without any label or designation until an order is placed, and then the desired labels (possibly including strip labels, etc.)

Usually an importer will place an order to a supplier and specify what printing is required. Most often, the buyer will coordinate with the supplier/winery and either pay for the labels or provide them.

Occasionally a buyer/negociant will order existing labeled product---say a small production run of a single vineyard Cru Beaujolais---and request strip labels be applied, and they'll get charged for it.

Very seldom done by hand anymore; too expensive. Better to run it through a labeling machine; more efficient.

Nowadays some of the bigger outfits buy from all kinds of different sources, ship them to their central facility, and do scheduled label runs. These places exist almost totally on robot automation equipment and are supervised by only a handful of people.