How much longer can we continue packaging in the current wine bottles?

By now, people in the wine industry should be familiar with the idea that the biggest contributor to the carbon footprint of the wine industry is the glass bottles, as shown in the first figure below. Basically, the heat produced when turning silica sand into glass involves an horrendous amount of carbon (although see: Fueled by renewables, Verallia fires up breakthrough electric glass furnace). Under these circumstances, other packaging options start to look pretty good, some of which I will discuss here.

The change of wine-industry attitude required to address this issue is probably less problematic for me, personally, because I come originally from the land Down Under. This is the land that has embraced the screw cap for bottle tops. My wine bottles from Europe and North America still have corks, and my bottles from Australia and New Zealand almost all have screw caps — this seems to make no difference to the quality of the stored wine. The same may turn out to be true of the glass container as well. *

The above graph of carbon-dioxide footprints is from Systembolaget, my local alcohol retail chain here in Sweden (Packaging with lower carbon footprint). Decanter (Alternative wine packaging: thinking inside the box) comment about the data:

In 2018–2019, the alcohol monopolies of Sweden, Finland and Norway jointly calculated the average CO2 per litre emitted in the manufacture of different forms of wine packaging. The results (see chart, above) are striking. Glass bottles have by far the highest carbon impact. The footprint of cans and PET bottles is substantially lower, but it is BIBs, pouches and cartons that have the lowest emissions. The difference is bigger still if you include transportation.

This is of interest to me, because Systembolaget has set itself goals for the sustainability of its future products (Why develop our own guidance?), which is why it was involved in producing the graphed data in the first place. ** Usefully, the Decanter article (linked above) also has a table summarizing the  various alternatives to glass packaging, along with their pros and cons, so I will not repeat it here. Sustainable Wine Roundtable has also produced a report (June 2023): Reducing wine bottle weight. An assessment of the potential for the reduction in wine bottle weight.

Basically, in addition to the environmental consequences of the actions when actually producing wine (as listed in the figure immediately above), there are two big issues with packaging, notably:

• what containers we can keep our wine in if we wish to store it for any length of time
• the concept of recycling.

The Decanter author (as linked above) is very clear on the first of these two issues:

To be clear, glass bottles currently remain the only viable format for cellaring wines. Wine in BIB, pouch, PET bottle and aluminium can has a limited shelf life (though wines in PET bottles reportedly keep for up to 18 months, and I have tasted canned wines that were still fresh after two years). But most people buy wine for immediate drinking: almost all the wine consumed around the world (some 90%) is drunk within a few weeks of purchase. There is no need for such wines to be packaged in glass bottles.

This latter point is of utmost importance. The only thing we really need glass for is long–term storage. You may well ask yourself: Would you drink fine wine from a paper bottle? Still, there are apparently some worthwhile options:

• Seriously, boxed wine is really good now
• 10 boxed wines that are really good, seriously
• Aluminum and paper wine bottles are here to stay; here are 3 to try
  
• The absolute best canned wines to drink right now

As for recycling (the second issue listed above), this is really big here in the Nordic countries, in general. For example, Anora launches new wine assortment as Finland’s Alcohol Act comes into force:

Its packaging options include rPET bottles made from recycled plastic and fully recyclable Bag-in-Boxes, which have an up to 90% lower carbon footprint compared to traditional glass bottles. Anora added that its products are bottled and packed close to the end consumers in Finland, reducing the environmental impact of wines considerably. ***

There is also the matter of re-using the container, of course: 60 Oregon wineries to adopt Revino's refillable bottles; or Master the art of re-corking: a step-by-step guide to resealing your wine bottle like a pro. There is also the concept of a flat bottle (How sustainable is ‘green’ wine packaging?), or a hexagonal bottle (Napa entrepreneur’s hexagonally shaped bottle innovates), or a light-weight glass bottle (Glass reimagined: towards a carbon-free wine packaging era). These are all worthwhile options if we insist on continuing with glass. However, sometimes even recycling the glass is problematic (The rocky rollout of California’s new Bottle Bill).

One wine region that is taking all of this seriously is Burgundy (Burgundy wines lighten their bottles, and their carbon footprint). The Burgundy wine marketing bureau (BIVB) has set a particularly ambitious target: it aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2035, with glass bottles identified as the first target. This is in complete contrast to the recent comment from Australian wine commentator Jeremy Oliver: “Some of the bottles sent to me are so heavy you could be fooled for thinking they contained twice what they do.”

For the final word, however, Australian film director Peter Weir (From Hitchcock and Hanging Rock to Hollywood: Peter Weir reflects on his Brilliant Career) has noted:

Films, like most wines, are meant to be consumed in the year of their release. It’s a small miracle when they endure.

Very true!

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* Indeed, the Voyager Estate 2019 Project Sparkling Chenin Blanc, which I drank last Friday, actually has a standard metal “crown cork” bottle cap, just like a beer bottle!

** I have even noticed a recent ad from them on Youtube, about their “climate smart” philosophy.

*** This is a totally different concept of package-at-destination from the recent report involving: Use of Spanish bulk wine in Portugal, Germany and France is a growing concern!