Top 10 Trailers of 2019: #9 – Harbor Hill Mobile Wine Bottling Trailer

As 2019 winds down we are taking a look back at a few of our favorite custom trailers from the year. Of course, we will never overlook the everyday trailer sales that are the meat and potatoes of our business, but the big marketing trailers that require extended fabrication make us really proud to do what we do.

Over the next few weeks we will feature a top 10 countdown of our favorite custom trailers of 2019 as voted on by our employees.

From the sales team to the admin team to the service team, every person may or may not have played a direct role in each trailer along the way, but each person has played an important role in keeping the business going, providing excellent customer service, and getting trailers back up and running quickly, which is something to be celebrated.

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#10 – National Grid First Responders Training Trailer

#9. Harbor Hill Mobile Wine Bottling Trailer

Note: This feature was originally posted on our blog in May, but since it was voted to our Top 10 Trailers of 2019 list, we are resharing it. We are proud of this mobile wine bottling trailer because of the uniqueness that it brings to the growing Midwest wine industry. At 37-feet, it’s one of the larger trailers that we did this year. 

What do you do when you have a small and successful wine company that sees an opportunity to improve and enhance the rapidly growing Midwest wine industry? You purchase a custom mobile wine bottling trailer and offer mobile bottling services to other wineries throughout the region.

That's exactly what Sam Simpson, owner of Harbor Hill Fruit Farms in Lake Leelanau, Mich., did. He secured a 37-foot ATC gooseneck trailer from Advantage Trailer and filled it with approximately 25 pieces of equipment to create a mobile wine bottling trailer.

“It’s very common practice on the west coast,” Simpson said. “We own a couple of production facilities, so it just made logical sense that we didn’t need to own multiple bottling lines. We just needed to be able to move between facilities.”

Harbor Hill Fruit Farms operates several different businesses including Good Harbor Vineyards and Aurora Cellars, both of which are also in Lake Leelanau. According to Simpson, the state of Michigan currently has about 150 wineries, Ohio has 240, and Indiana has 100, so there is incredible opportunity to add a service to the region that has so far only existed out west.

“It’s one of those things where you need to have a certain size of industry to justify the service, so as the industries grow the more likely that the service can be successful,” Simpson explained. “We’re trying to be the first.”

The wine bottling trailer officially opened for business at the beginning of April and can bottle up to 1,800 cases per day. Harbor Hill’s own products account for approximately 10 percent of that capacity, so Simpson’s team offers the service to other wineries around the Midwest, which helps justify the cost.

With all of the bottling, labeling, and packaging equipment contained within the trailer, wineries can save time, money, and space versus setting up all of that equipment at their own facility.

“The bottles are put on the trailer empty, they’re picked up and filled with nitrogen, the bottle is displaced with wine,” Simpson explained about how the process works. “There is either a cork or a screw cap closure placed on the bottle. The bottles are labeled, they’re date coded, then they go around and they’re put in a case by a person. The case is printed with whatever they want on it and automatically taped, then goes down a conveyor system and stacked on a pallet.”

Simpson’s goal is to expand to additional mobile wine bottling trailers within three years – this one has the potential to capture approximately five to eight percent of the Midwest market – but acknowledges that it will take time to spread the word about the service.

“Everybody that has used us said that they can’t ever see not using us, which is a good start,” Simpson said. “We’re in the mode right now of getting the word out that we’re offering this service.”

In today’s economy, being able to do something with mobility that can improve efficiency, lower costs, and help an entire industry is a major advantage, and that’s what a trailer can offer. The uses for trailers are endless, from mobile retail to a restaurant and sampling to a ministry platform to a tradeshow centerpiece and everything in between.

How can Advantage Trailer help bring your idea to life or increase your business? We stand behind our motto of We Build Dreams because we take pride in crafting mobile solutions for any personal or business need. Give us a call at 630-529-2029 for a quote today.