Although soaking labels off bottles is an obvious way of collecting (and most enjoyable if you have had to drink the wine too!) the labels can only be classed as second hand. Also, with modern day glues, some of the most colourful labels just refuse to be separated from their bottles. Your collection will only build at the rate you can drink the wine, or at the rate you can collect empty bottles from your local wine merchant after he has emptied them at his wine tasting sessions. So here are a few tips on how to acquire pristine wine labels for your collection.

First of all you can use the Net. This would be ideal for all of you reading this page if only all wine producers were connected. So I would forget this method and revert back to good old "snail mail".

If you live in a wine producing country, write to the vineyards direct, always enclosing a stamp for a reply. Addresses can be obtained from agricultural departments and dedicated wine producers societies. Both of these would be able to supply you with addresses in the areas of their control.

Addresses of foreign vineyards can be obtained as follows:

• Take down the addresses from the wine bottles on supermarket shelves.
• Use the addresses shown on advertisements in the wine magazines - remember these want a response to their advertisements and are happy to send you labels and information.
• Write to wine importers. These people receive labels from the wine producers they represent just in case the bottles arrive with damaged labels. Most of these labels end up on a shelf and then get thrown out when the are taking up valuable space. Some importers have their own labels, which are the same as the vineyard original, but with the importer's business address added. Collecting these endorsed labels could add an extra dimension to your collection. But remember, if you are writing to a local importer to include a stamp.
• Use the local embassies and consulates for foreign countries. These have masses of information, which could prove valuable to the label collector. If they cannot give you an address list of all the vineyards in their country, they will be able to give you a list of wine importers in ,your country that handles their country’s produce..
• The newspapers carry advertisements from wine companies, some with freephone numbers - use them!
• Finally, get to know other collectors and swap your spare labels with them. Register your name, e-mail addresses and "snail mail" on our visitor’s page and we will compile a members address page so you can get in touch with each other.

Good Luck and Happy Collecting.