Old wine in new bottles

How often do you buy bag-in-a-box wine?  Do you buy any wine in cans?  Have you ever knowingly been served wine on tap at a bar?  Your responses to these questions probably reflect a certain reluctance to embrace some of the newer wine delivery methods and, if not, chances are your buying habits overwhelming demonstrate a preference for the traditional glass bottle.  This is hardly surprising since we have been conditioned for years to appreciate that wine comes in classy glass bottles.  However, the climate emergency has been focussing minds in the wine world in recent years and accelerating initiatives trying to make the whole industry more sustainable.  While lots can be done at the winery level to reduce carbon emissions it is the methods by which wine is stored, transported, and presented to the consumer that create by far the greatest threat to the environment.  Whereas in the past wines were principally a locally produced beverage consumed by the local community the wine industry is now a global phenomenon. In the course of one generation our horizons here in the UK have been expanded to the extent that we are used to buying wines from every wine producing country in the entire world.  The environmental cost, to say nothing of the financial cost, of transporting wine across great distances is a serious concern.  The increasing trend in the past 20 years to transport wine in bulk and bottle at the point of sale only goes so far in addressing the problem, but it is the issue of presenting the product in heavy glass bottles that really needs to be tackled. 

Firstly, glass bottles are expensive to produce.  Raw materials are finite and the process of manufacture requires a huge amount of energy.  Of course glass can be recycled and the process of converting bottles back to molten glass requires less energy.  However, there is higher recycled content in green wine bottles than white and one estimate I saw said that using dark glass for ALL wine bottles could reduce packaging-related emissions of CO2 by 20%.  Glass bottles are also heavy. In some cases (e.g. bottled fermented sparking wines such as champagne) they are deliberately heavy to ensure they don't explode under pressure but a big heavy bottle is also used by some producers to convince consumers there is a quality wine inside.  The average glass bottle weight across the industry is around 575g.  High carbon emissions associated with production and transportation could certainly be cut with lighter bottles. Experiments reducing bottle weight down to below 400g have resulted in no adverse feedback or impact on sales.  The wine writer Joanna Simon regularly lists the empty bottle weight at the end of a wine review in her weekly column Wine of the Week and you can see they vary by quite a lot.

The alternatives

If the weight of glass bottles is a major issue the obvious solution is to find lighter materials to make them from. Food grade quality plastic PET (polyethylene terephthalate) has been around for over half a century and, although you see bottles made from it containing all kinds of drinks (still and fizzy) on supermarket shelves, it is a rarity in the wine aisles.  PET plastic is completely recyclable, shatterproof, substantially lighter than glass (a 75cl bottle weighs less than 60g), and therefore easy and less costly to transport.  Why is it not used more widely in the wine industry then?  There seem to be two downsides.  Firstly, PET allows small amounts of oxygen to enter the bottle more easily than glass which means the wine loses freshness more quickly.  Consequently it can only be used for wines with a short shelf life.  The other factor working against wider adoption is consumer resistance; a plastic bottle is perceived as cheap therefore the product inside must be poor quality too.  On reflection I think my only experience of wine from a plastic bottle has been on a plane where I can vouch for both negative perceptions!  But you can understand the cost benefits to airlines in terms of the weight difference.  Will they ever stop serving champagne from the heaviest glass bottles in First Class though?

There are recent initiatives to make traditionally shaped wine bottles from other components too.  Bottles made from flax, a natural biodegradable material, have reduced the weight of the standard wine bottle to less than 200g.  However, the alternative that intrigues me is the paper bottle. Disappointingly, this is not some lavish origami work of art and nor is it merely a Tetra Pak (which in any case would not be shaped as a bottle). Instead, it is the invention of a British company Frugalpac.  Essentially it's a paper bottle with a lightweight plastic liner. The claims for this innovative packing are impressive: 

• At 83g, five times lighter than a normal glass bottle
• Made out of 84% recycled cardboard and when disassembled 96% recyclable.
• Uses 77% less plastic than a plastic bottle
• A carbon footprint up to six lower than a glass bottle

Although it shares a similar drawback to the plastic bottle in being limited to wines with a short shelf life I feel the manufacturer has given the product a striking appearance which, of course, is easily varied with more bespoke artwork.

But before leaving the bottle concept completely the Garçon Wines bottle deserves a mention.  As they claim, this really is a breakthrough from both an environmental and practical perspective.  The concept of a flat bottle that can fit through a letterbox is an online delivery triumph but its environmental credentials are impressive too.  These bottles are again made of food grade plastic, are 87% lighter than conventional bottles and take up 40% less space.  This last feature has the potential to massively reduce transport costs.

The alternative alternatives

What are the options then to replace the bottle completely?  Well, the bag-in-a-box has been around for many years and is a practical option if you know what wine you like and like the idea of having it on draught.  The pop-out tap connected to a deflating bag ensures the wine is maintained in drinkable condition as it is consumed over a period of time.  The fact that the wobbly bag is enclosed in a cardboard box enables easy transportation and the weight ratio of wine to packaging is good.  B-in-a-B wines are again typically short shelf life but personally my resistance to this packaging stems from my desire to drink a variety of wines.  I don't want a box of the same wine (or even a box of red and a box of white) to be going on for days. 

One final alternative packaging that has got some traction in the past few years is the can.  Although I don't think I have ever had a wine from a can (only a G&T!) I can see the market opportunity for picnics, festivals, and generally drinking on the go.  As I understand it, aluminium cans are not as easily recyclable as PET but the concept of canned drinks does have a long track record with fizzy non-alcoholic drinks.  Unfortunately though I cannot now get the image of MP Diane Abbott drinking from a can on the tube in 2019 out of my head!

Update 7 Nov 2022 - I see from Decanter that leading wine professionals are supporting drive for alternative packaging for everyday drinking wines. 

“The open letter, spearheaded by Wine Traders for Alternative Formats (WTAF), highlights the environmental impact of glass manufacturing and recycling.”

See https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/leading-wine-professionals-sign-letter-calling-for-alternative-packaging-489810/