Top 5 Ways to Upcycle Wine Bottles

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Tag Us #IGTupcycle

Each In Good Taste wine flight features six to eight mini bottles of premium wine, presenting the perfect opportunity to taste your way through the best that the world of wine has to offer. We’ve put our fans on social media to the test to provide their favorite upcycle ideas for reusing each 187ml bottle after their tasting is over.  Let’s take a look at some of the most creative wine bottle upcycled DIY projects!

First Things First: Removing the Labels!

If you are like most people, you don’t want the wine bottle label stuck on the glass when repurposing it.  However, it is a mistake to attempt to peel off the label with your fingernails as doing so will chew up your precious time and prove quite frustrating.  Instead, take note of the following helpful tips to remove labels from your wine bottles prior to repurposing them, for additional utility or decorative beauty.  

Option 1) Dry Heat

One of the best ways to remove labels from wine bottles is to hold a hairdryer over the bottle label, running it on high for a couple of minutes.  The heat from the hairdryer will soften the adhesive and might even help its corners curl upward away from the glass for easier removal.  

Option 2) Wet Heat

Another effective way to remove the labels from your used small wine bottles is with the use of hot water.  Soak your wine bottles in a dish basin full of hot, soapy water for several hours or even overnight.  The hot water will loosen up the label, making it that much easier to peel it off with your fingernail or a butter knife.

Option 3) Solvents & Oils

If you’re unable to remove all paper and adhesive from the bottle using either heat method, following up with Goo Gone or even good, old, creamy peanut butter may help! The oil from peanut butter breaks down and weakens the adhesive, and is surprisingly simple to clean up. Spray Goo Gone or spread PB liberally on your wine bottles, let sit for 10-15 minutes, then wipe away.

Clean, sanitize and dry your bottles fully before using them for food or drink preparation.

DIY Wine Bottle Fruit-infused Water

Once you've enjoyed the last drop of your fruit-forward wine, our 187ml glass bottles also work great for fantastic, single-serving water infusions! is Fruit-infused water sipped from a wine bottle tastes refreshing and sweet, yet has significantly less sugar and calories than eating those fruits in solid form.  This is the quickest and best way to clench your thirst without resorting to plain water that lacks flavor.  An added bonus is the beauty of a water-filled wine bottle that doubles as décor in your fridge or table.

Enjoy your fruit-infused water within eight hours for optimal flavor, and to avoid spoiling. For a longer shelf-life, straining the pieces of fruit and retain the flavorful water within a covered bottle or thermos.  Keep this fruit-infused water in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

For even more flavor, steep your bottles in a warm area with sunlight for an hour or less. Similar to sun tea, the sunlight extracts the flavors all the more prior to moving the bottle to the fridge.  Once your fruit-infused water is ready to drink, filter it with cheesecloth layers or even a sieve to eliminate the pulp and seeds prior to sitting back, relaxing, and sipping away.

Alternatively, switch it up by flavoring ice cubes, to chill and flavor your water as it melts. Add fresh pieces of chopped fruit to ice cube molds, top with water, and freeze until solid.  Once the ice cubes are ready, drop them into your partially filled wine bottles so the water tastes cooler and has that much more fruit infusion. Or try these recipes with sparkling water!

DIY Wine Bottle Plant Propagation

Many of us picked up hobbies during quarantine; from baking, to puzzles, Netflix-officianados. If you've chosen the path of "plant-aholic," our beautiful bottles also make great propagation stations, or nurseries for sprouts to grow their widdle roots.

DIY Wine Bottle Infused Oils

There’s no sense in paying through the nose for savory-infused oil when you can make your own at home with your empty wine bottles.  A freshly cleaned used wine bottle is perfect for all different types of oil, herbs, and spices.  From pure olive oil to canola oil, safflower oil, and beyond, you can make all sorts of different savory-infused oils on your own in the comfort of your home.

Resist the temptation to use the super expensive extra virgin olive oil as you will add flavoring that offsets the olive scent and flavor.  Furthermore, canola oil and grapeseed oil are worth considering, especially if you want to infuse stronger flavors such as mint or ginger.  Regular olive oil is optimal for oregano and rosemary.

In general, it is best to use dry herbs.  However, if you choose fresh herbs, bruise or crumple them and give them some time to wilt so excess moisture can be eliminated.  Cut the wilted herbs into small pieces and crush them prior to adding them to the empty small wine bottles.

Steeping oils in the sun will also help to naturally infuse flavors into the oil.  Rely on the sun to enhance the infusion process and the resulting herbal oil will prove useful for both culinary oils as well as body care. For an oil hair mask that hydrates, use your empty small wine bottles to make rosemary-infused olive oil.  

DIY Cocktail Mixers

Upcycle your wine bottles into cocktail mixers, invite some friends over and you are sure to have a blast.  Most cocktail mixers are a basic blend of simple syrup and flavoring.

Cocktail mixer recipes will vary, so follow the instructions for making and storing.

Share Your DIY Wine Bottle Upcycling Ideas!

Do you have any other ideas for wine bottle upcycling? We would love to share them with our community!  We welcome all creative ideas.  Tag us @ingoodtastewines or #IGTupcycle with your wine bottle upcycling ideas.