Last weekend, the Bay Area News reported on the shortage of glass bottles.

A spokesperson for Napa Fermentation Supplies, a recent brewery supply company, said that they usually only sell products to small and home brewers, but now he has a long list of commercial breweries requesting new glass bottles.

So I asked Ned Hill, his La Prenda manages many people’s vineyards and produces many people’s wines, including their own, if he sees a shortage of glass bottles.

Hill replied: "Yes, it is very difficult at the moment. Gallo has stopped selling their domestic glass, and imported glass has not appeared."

Gallo Glass was founded in Modesto in 1958 by Ernest and Julio Gallo, very smart. According to Gallo, it is now the largest glass factory in North America. Their website states that Gallo is “committed to providing delivery services and quality to the wine and spirits industry.”

Maybe someone should come up with a simple and hygienic system to reuse glass wine bottles. It is still done with some baby bottles.

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