Glass bottles have historically been the perfect container for wine. They are inert and easily sealed, allowing wines to age and evolve for years without being affected. Easy to carry and store. The 750ml PET bottle is just the right size for two people.
But in a time of global trade turmoil and climate crisis, glass bottles have never been more of a problem than they are today.
In recent years, many growers have reported difficulty obtaining bottles. Complained about the higher costIn addition to the usual pandemic supply chain problems, bottles from China, a major source of supplies for the United States, have been subject to a 25% tariff since 2018. Ukrainian production, war with Russia, reduced supply.
These are periodic issues. Winemakers can adapt in a short period of time, no matter how hard it is. A far more immediate long-term concern is the climate crisis and related environmental problems.numerous audits of Carbon footprint of wine production The largest percentage of greenhouse gas emissions from the industry are blamed on glass bottles from manufacturing to delivery.
This perfect container turned out to be a big problem for the planet.
The production of glass bottles requires an enormous amount of heat and energy, and bottled wine, including all the packaging materials necessary to protect the fragile container, is a heavy item that requires a lot of fuel to transport. . The heavier the bottle, the more fuel it consumes and the more greenhouse gases it produces.
The world can probably accept this, but there is another big problem. Once the wine is drained from those bottles, it is usually thrown away. The whole process, which requires energy and emits greenhouse gases, must be repeated many times.
In theory, glass bottle recycling should help alleviate the problem. But as general manager Jason Haas, Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles, Calif. in a recent blog postthe US glass recycling situation is disappointing.
Environmental Protection Agency estimates Only 31% of glass In contrast, 74% is recycled in Europe and over 95% in Sweden, Belgium and Slovenia. In reality, Haas says he’s under 31% because much of that glass is shattered and used to build roads, rather than being melted down to make new glass.
Unlike many small countries that can impose a uniform set of rules nationwide, Haas wrote. Very few people enforce these.
In America, recycling has largely been left to the government and consumers. Perhaps the system would work better if the glass manufacturer took responsibility for recycling, as some have argued. Haas suggests the wine industry should increase its use of recycled glass.
A broader solution than recycling is to return the bottles, as people have done for decades, until the introduction of single-use bottles in the post-World War II era of convenience. It’s about reusing. Sadly, people seem to be addicted to the convenience of throwing things away, and several promising recent trials of reusable wine bottles have ended disastrously.
For one, gotham project.times, a company that specializes in the sale of cask wines to bars and restaurants.
To do so, Gotham had to contend with a number of logistical issues. Where do retailers store empty bottles? Do consumers have to wash them before returning them? And what about the labels? They had to be affixed with an old form of water-soluble glue that melted in the wash rather than the seemingly eternal bond of modern glue. .
Bruce Schneider, who founded Gotham with partner Charles Beeler in 2010, said: With so much awareness about sustainability and carbon footprint consumers saying they want to do their part, I thought this was natural. , there was little profit. “
Another company, Good Goods, similarly discontinued its returnable wine bottle testing program after discovering that consumers would not take the wine home. Both Good Goods and Gotham experimented with various incentives for consumers to return bottles, including small deposits, store credits, and donations to charity. But nothing worked in the long run.
“We need to make massive changes in consumer behavior, and we are not there yet. co-branda New York importer and distributor who worked with Good Goods on its program.
Mr. Saunders also passed a rigorous test, master of wine Qualifications, I think the biggest problem is logistics. Participation will increase if the system for returning and storing bottles can be made easier for consumers and businesses, she said.
To that end, Good Goods has reorganized its organization as a logistics company, circular economy Reduce waste and save energy by reusing or reusing materials such as bottles instead of discarding or eliminating them.
“The logistics part of the circular economy game is the heart of the matter,” she said. “It’s a big obstacle.”
in a recent episode four topon the wine podcast, Ms. Sanders discussed recycling with Diana Snowden Saices. Snowden Vineyards Napa Valley and Domaine Dujac in Burgundy.
Snowden Seysses is also a big proponent of reusable bottles. She said the infrastructure for recycling bottles still exists in Europe. Serge Chevauxwas a company specializing in bottle recycling, not far from Dujac, and was doing big business, especially in Belgium, where the government offers incentives for bottle recycling.
Both Dujac and Snowden produce wines intended for aging, which requires glass vessels, said Snowden-Sayses, but this would not affect the flavor or composition of the wine.
However, most wines in the world are consumed within a year of purchase and do not require a glass. Still, consumers perceive the glass as a symbol of high quality and associate other types of containers, such as bag-in-box, with poor quality wine, so producers unnecessarily bottle modest wines.
According to Sanders, cans aren’t much better than bottles. It is easy to recycle, but requires a lot of energy to create.
“Those are a lot of packages for a small amount of wine,” she said.
Both women say reusable bottles will eventually be an essential step, but alternative containers like bag-in-box, even if made of single-use plastic, require less energy to manufacture and ship. We believe it is better for the environment because there is much less waste.
What’s more, the standard 3-liter bag-in-box, once opened, can keep wine fresh for 4-6 weeks, much longer than an open bottle.
“It’s a myth that a bag-in-a-box has to be cheap,” Sanders said on the podcast, adding, “To demystify this packaging, you’ve got to put some reliable wine in it.”
In other words, the better a wine sold in a bag-in-a-box format, the more likely consumers are to accept it. Through Communal Brands, Sanders sells good unpretentious wines, including: HellisonBurgundy Passoutglen, sprinkan Austrian Grüner Veltliner in a bag-in-box. Domaine de Triennemanufactures affordable wines in the South of France, consulted by Seisses, but now sells wines in 3-liter bag-in-box containers.
Other good wines are available in this format. Tablas Creek’s Haas Experiments with Bag-in-Box, Packaging the Equivalent of His 112 Cases in 2021 Patelin de Tablas Roséis a modest wine usually served by the glass in restaurants. It sold out quickly, Haas said. The reaction was so enthusiastic that he repeated the experiment with Patelin de Tablas white and immediately redid it with red.
“I was so happy to see it,” Sanders said of the Tablas Creek box. “A pedigree and respectable producer is really big and justifiable.”
Other boxed wines I highly recommend are: from the tankfrom Jenny & Francois Selections, an importer of natural wines, wine berry boxfrom another importer, Wineberry USA.
Snowden Seysses is trying out another pilot program with reusable bottles. We make Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot from the fruit we buy and sell it under a separate label. Snowden’s cousinIt is distributed by Communal Brands to restaurants and not to consumers through retail outlets.
“This is a reasonable next step,” she said. “What I’m working on is getting restaurants on board and encouraging consumers to get on board.
“We’ll see what happens in California first,” she continued. “I’m still working on Burgundy, but counterfeiting is a problem in Burgundy,” she said, adding that fake bottles labeled by famous producers like Dujac were filled with inferior wines. , hinted that it is priced at a premium.
Looking at the scale of the climate crisis and the small steps that now seem so difficult to take, it’s easy to get discouraged. Reusable bottles will one day become an important tool for reducing our carbon footprint.
“This is the perfect container,” Haas said. “If only I could find a way to reuse them.”