"Mis en bouteille au Château", "Imbottigliato all'origine", or even the simple English "Estate bottled"; just a few of the romantic phrases found on wine labels that promise a quality product within. They indicate that the guys who planted and tended the grapes have had total control of your wine from harvest to distribution. But does it actually guarantee quality, and is it really necessary? Well, if it's an expensive bottle of claret or Burgundy or a wine from a renowned vintage it certainly does, but if the wine is something picked up on the high street for everyday drinking I would be inclined to look for other indicators of quality such as recommendations from established wine writers or prior experience. The purpose then of this post is to pursue some of the implications from what I wrote about a few weeks ago in relation to sustainability and how we can responsibly continue to enjoy wines from all corners of the world.
The UK's proximity to mainland Europe means historically we have mainly drunk wines produced in nearby countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain. I distinctly remember my first experience of drinking Australian Cabernet Sauvignon when it became available in the 1980s and the discussion it engendered with an Australian colleague about the wines of his homeland. I had no idea at the time that within a decade Australian brands such as Jacobs Creek would be commonplace. The market share of large Australian brands in the UK continued to grow through the 90s but transportation costs were a restriction for this rapidly expanding market. It is no surprise then that the wine for Jacobs Creek 'Classic' range began to be shipped in bulk and bottled in the UK in 2011. Since then this practice has become widely accepted not only for the majority of everyday drinking wine exports from Australia but also from countries in Latin America such as Argentina and Chile, and from South Africa.
Bulk transportation of wine from these distant countries is not as romantic as wine advertising might suggest. It relies on large plastic tanks known as Flexitanks that fit into a standard shipping container. It's not dissimilar to a huge bag-in-a-box. Whereas a shipping container can hold 12,000-13,000 bottles of wine packed into boxes on pallets, a flexitank in the same container has a capacity of 24,000 litres. One calculation I read recently suggests this is two and a half times more wine per container. It's not therefore surprising that the cost benefits are a significant draw but the related environmental benefits are an increasingly important consideration too. In support of this development a whole infrastructure for wine bottling has been established in the UK over the past decade with large state of the art bottling plants operating at Avonmouth nr Bristol (Accolade Park), Teeside (Greencroft Bottling Co), and Irlam, Manchester (Kingsland Drinks).
Which wines?
All wines sold here are legally required to show where and by whom the wine was bottled so if this is not the original producer the label must show the name and location of the bottler. But this is where it becomes complicated because it is not always immediately apparent. To be fair, there is quite a lot of essential information that has to appear on a bottle of wine therefore layout and font size can make things quite difficult. But you can't help thinking that, in contrast to proud boasts of 'mis en bouteille au Château', the practice of local bottling of bulk wines is positively disguised. Below is a screenshot of the back label of an Australian Shiraz listed online at https://www.vintners.co.uk/shiraz-beyond-the-river-2016.html As the law requires we can see from the lower LH quadrant that it was 'imported and bottled by Kingsland, M44 6BD, UK' thereby confirming it was shipped in bulk and bottled 10 miles west of Manchester, the postcode M44 6BD being the location identifier of Kingsland Drinks.
The second back label below is not quite so transparent. It comes from an Argentinian merlot on sale until recently in Aldi. How long does it take you to find that this wine is "Bottled by: DH9 7XP" and, when you know that, are you any the wiser? Of course based on the previous bottle the logic here is that DH9 7XP is a postcode and no surprises in this case this refers to the huge bottling facility in County Durham run by Greencroft Bottling Co. Slightly more helpfully I have seen in the past labels stating "Bottled by W1740 at DHP 7XP, UK" but that is equally not much use if you do not have an encyclopaedic knowledge of bottling codes to decipher W1740!
One final example: I have in front of me a bottle of Sainsburys Taste the Difference Gaillac Rouge, a decent red wine for £8, at the moment on offer for just £6.50. The bottling code on the label here is EMB34341B which the somewhat niche Open Food Facts website informs me is in Villeveyrac, near Montpellier in France. Well at least it is bottled in France even if the Gaillac wine region is a still a good 200km west of there. Pros and Cons
I came to this topic initially from a sustainability angle and on those terms the bulk transportation of wines intended to be drunk within 18-24 months (i.e. 'everyday' wines) over large distances is a no-brainer. The cost savings make distribution of these wines to a wider market viable. Also, although the word bottling implies putting wine into bottles, when wine is transported in bulk and 'packaged' nearer the point of sale it gives the option of offering it in other formats such as cans and bag-in-the box.
In terms of downsides the wine producer clearly surrenders control of the final product when sending it out in bulk. They have no control over labelling and onward distribution and a bottling process elsewhere runs the risk of adulterating a wine that was perfect when it left their winery. There is also a potential prestige problem and resistance from wine drinkers who hold to the notion that wine should be bottled at source. However, it's worth bearing in mind that until the not-too-distant past most wine that was drunk on these shores (Bordeaux claret, wines from Burgundy, port, sherry etc) arrived in barrels to be distributed locally in bottles. Perhaps this then is a return to a long standing tradition?
Comments
Post a Comment