3 Brands Lightening Up the Glass Bottle

It’s easy to understand the appeal of a traditional glass bottle, from the graceful curve of the container to its satisfying heft. When a bottle is particularly weighty, there’s just something about it that whispers “quality.” Yet as lovely — and marketable — as that can be, producers and consumers are realizing that heavier doesn’t equal better. In fact, studies show that glass bottles are the largest contributor to wine’s carbon footprint. As the impacts of climate change accelerate around the world, drinks brands are increasingly embracing more Earth-friendly packaging.

Two prominent wine writers say it’s about time. For more than a decade, U.K.-based wine journalist Jancis Robinson has been calling for wineries to do away with what she calls “bodybuilder bottles.” Earlier this year, “The Wine Bible” author Karen MacNeil announced that she will no longer review wines packaged in ridiculously heavy bottles.

I’ve also done my share of railing against big-bottle syndrome. Back when I worked in an office with a postage meter, I’d often weigh the beefiest wine samples I received. It wasn’t uncommon for higher-end offerings — they’re usually the worst perpetrators of bottle thickness crimes — to tip the scales at 4 pounds or more. Now imagine how much fuel it takes to transport those behemoth bottles around the world. Yikes.

Thankfully, many beverage alcohol producers have gotten the memo, and a trend has emerged toward lighter, more climate-friendly packaging for wine and spirits. Here are 3 recently released products that are “lightening up” the sustainability conversation. Read about boxed wine and canned wines that are determined to change your mind.

Element[AL] Wines

The new Element[AL] line from Bogle Family Wine Collection features sustainably grown California Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Rosé and Pinot Noir packaged in sleek, aluminum bottles. Resembling a traditional wine bottle, the container is 100 percent recyclable — much like a beer can, only prettier. It took nearly three years of research and development to perfect the lightweight aluminum bottles, which weigh just 1.8 pounds when full. When empty, they are 80 percent lighter than the average glass wine bottle.

Bogle chose aluminum because it can be recycled indefinitely without quality degradation, and the material requires only a fraction of the original manufacturing energy to create the next generation. Compared to shipping wine in glass bottles, Bogle reports, the containers save nearly 12,000 pounds of weight per truckload.

Although choosing the material was a no-brainer for Bogle, it wasn’t so easy to create a stylish aluminum package that wouldn’t diminish the wine-drinking experience. When the company initially reached out to aluminum packaging companies about making a container shaped like a traditional wine bottle, it hit a wall.

“Every single one of them said something to the effect of, ‘That’s not possible, aluminum can’t be shaped like that,’” says Paul Englert, Bogle’s vice president of marketing. The winery eventually found a manufacturer willing to invest in new tooling and technology to bring its vision to life. The winery also implemented innovations to its bottling line to accommodate the lighter containers.

For now, Bogle’s aluminum bottles are exclusive to the Element[AL] brand, but Englert isn’t ruling them out for other products. “If consumers respond to this innovation as well as our research indicates,” he says, “we expect it will have additional applications within our existing portfolio and throughout the industry.”

Half Shell Vodka

Paper is pretty much the last material you’d expect to work as a container for liquids, yet that’s what comprises Half Shell Vodka’s eye-catching bottle. To be more precise, it’s made from 94 percent recycled paperboard with a food-grade PET pouch on the inside — similar to a bag-in-box format. According to Florida-based Distillery 98, the maker of Half Shell Vodka, the container is 5 times lighter than glass and its carbon footprint is 6 times lower. When full, the bottle weighs only 1.74 pounds.

“The bit of plastic that is used for manufacturing purposes uses less than your average water bottle,” says Harrison Holditch, the CEO and co-founder of Distillery 98 and Half Shell Vodka. “It is made from a special material that ensures no microplastics will ever be in the spirit.”

That’s important to the sustainability-minded distillery, which favors local ingredients and filters its vodka through a blend of activated coconut carbon and oyster shells.

Originally produced by U.K.-based Frugalpac, the innovative paperboard bottles are also available in California through the Monterey Wine Company custom winemaking facility. So far, more than 35 drinks producers worldwide have launched products in the Frugal Bottle.

Half Shell’s vodka is currently sold at Distillery 98 and in select Florida liquor stores. The company expects to expand into California and Colorado later this year.

Blue Bin Wines

Plastic bottles are usually considered an environmental no-no, but this one is different. Blue Bin from River Road Family Vineyards and Winery in Sebastopol, Calif., is packaged in 100 percent recycled plastic that is also 100 percent recyclable. The empty container weighs just 52 grams compared to around 500 grams for a typical glass bottle.

Ron Rubin, the owner of River Road Family Vineyards, says this is the first premium wine in the United States to be bottled using all recycled (rPET) material rather than virgin plastic.

“It looks like the traditional glass bottle, but it is smaller, lighter, shatterproof and reduces emissions,” Rubin notes. “We plan to expand this planet-friendly packaging to other wine brands in the future if it’s requested by our retail customers.”

The Blue Bin line includes 4 wines: Rosé, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc.

NewsTina CaputoMay 17, 2024sustainabilityComment