Accurate filling technology – perfect appearance for sparkling wine

Today, one in three bottles of German sekt comes from “Rotkäppchen-Mumm Sektkellereien”: at four tradition-steeped facilities, more than 300 staff produce high-quality sekt, achieving a turnover totalling around 350 million euros. The sekt winery created after a long slump as a consequence of the German reunification was able to continuously upsize capacities in the nineties.

In 2006, it celebrated its 150th anniversary:

• 1991 – first Krones line rated at 12,000 0.75-l bottles/h.
• 1996 – commissioning of a new Krones high-speed filling line rated at 18,000 0.75-l bottles/h. After Line 2 had been commissioned, Line 1 was used to fill 18,000 0.2-l bottles an hour.

In Line 2, the Variojet rinser, the Mecafill filler, two closers and a wire cage applicator combine to form a Superbloc. Encouraged by the good performance of the Mecafill in Line 1, Rotkäppchen once again opted for this filling system with 120 filling valves and fill level correction, which ensures optimally accurate fills. Fill levels are monitored using a Checkmat inspector.
The filler is mechanically BLOC-synchronised with one closer for synthetic corks and another for natural corks, plus a wire cage applicator. In the sekt capsule applicator and crimper, which is fitted with an automatic capsule feed unit, the sekt bottles are oriented so as to ensure that the crimped capsule with the “Rotkäppchen” name harmonises perfectly with the neck ring and the shoulder label. Upstream of the Solomatic for neck ring, shoulder and back labels, the bottles are oriented once again, before another Checkmat inspects the labels.