Home > Blogs > Uncorked > Archives > 2008 > August > 27 > Entry
Are wine drinkers ready for plastic bottles?
Move over, screwcaps. The Next Big Thing to hit the wine world may well be plastic bottles.
Boisset Family Estates will ship 25,000 cases of Beaujolais Nouveau wines from its Mommessin and Bouchard Aine & Fils French wineries in plastic (PET) bottles to North America this fall, according to this story in Wine Business International. A similar story in Decanter.com triggered some interesting comments.
It’s about money, of course, but it’s also about the environment, the French wine company says. Plastic bottles are shatterproof, easily recyclable and so much lighter than glass that they will reduce weight of the air-shipped wine by 42 percent and freight costs by 33 percent, the Boisset folks say. And that puts more money into our wallets: according to Boisset’s local wholesaler/distributor, those savings will translate into an $11.99 price tag in Ohio for the Bouchard 2008 Nouveau — $3 less than the 2007. That’s welcome news. And the company says that PET packaging produces 50 to 60 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than glass throughout its life cycle.
“It just makes sense also from an environmental point of view,” Boisset’s president, Jean-Charles Boisset, told Wine Business International. “Why on earth are we still bottling these wines and shipping in glass?”
Well, why indeed?
Tell me: would you buy wine out of a plastic bottle, if it was cheaper and easier on the environment?
Would you buy fine, expensive wine in a plastic bottle?
Or do you agree with one of the comments posted on the Decanter.com story that declared, “Wine belongs in glass not plastic!” ….?
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment |
Comments
By George
September 7, 2008 3:55 PM | Link to this
Don’t you think the cancer reducing qualities are already busy cancelling the effects of all the other carcinogens we are dealing with at present? How do they “cancel out” additional carcinogens, when they have already been amply cancelled out themselves by our current levels of carcinogen exposure?By Robert
August 29, 2008 8:11 AM | Link to this
John-bravo for Sainsbury-and your point is??? We are talking the latest PET monoxbar barrier-only “perfected” a year or so ago.Also. the products in question are made in France and shipped broad export.Why is the US ‘the least innovative’?I think the rise of Oregon ,Finger Lakes and Long Island vineyards in the last ten years has proven to be a tremendous boost to non-Californian wine appreciation,and retailers such as Whole Foods,Trader Joe’s,Total Beverage,Wine Library and many many more are really innovative in both selection and delivery.Do your opinions originate from a decade ago?!By John Stallcup
August 28, 2008 11:56 PM | Link to this
Sainsbury the UK retailer has been selling a 1.5 liter PET bottle of wine for well over a decade. The bottle has no oxygen barrier and states on label “use within 90 days”. The US wine industry is the least innovative on earth.By Jonathan
August 28, 2008 12:49 PM | Link to this
Thank God the Boisset family is being bold enough to try something N-E-W. The wine industry is stuck in the 12th century and it needs to wake and and try new ways to save the environment and offer wines in new containers. My ego does not need the uber-heavy wine bottles found in so many high-end offerings. Nouveau Beaujolais is meant to be drunk VERY YOUNG, so why shouldn’t it be in plastic. Will I buy this wine? YES! I applaud this innovation and hope others follow suit.By Patrick
August 28, 2008 12:10 PM | Link to this
I think bottling wine in PET bottles is a great idea! Contrary to what others have said, this particular brand of PET has an oxygen-impermeable barrier. And unlike “normal” soft plastics which leach plasticizers into the liquid, PET does not leach any substances into the wine. So I’m all for it; bottling wines in PET will save millions in shipping costs and energy.By Dave
August 27, 2008 8:08 PM | Link to this
Ok, first off plastic bottles are known to contain cancer causing properties. Also, if you have ever drunk bottled water from a bottle that was slightly warm to having been left in the heat, and even have re-refrigerated it, I am sure you noticed that the taste was not what you were expecting. Can you imagine what wine, (especially red) may taste like when it has been exposed to heat? Now I know some of you may think that wine is always stored at an ambient temperature. I have been in the wine business for quite a while, and that is not always the case. When it is shipped on trucks, the temperature of the trailer can get very hot! Also, pallets of wine are sometimes left in the sun for hours on end. These factors alone will contribute to the degradation of wine that is produced in traditional glass bottles with “cork” corks. I would hate to taste something in a plastic bottle that has been treated in this manner. It doesn’t even take heat to effect the taste of wine a plastic bottle. For example; if you have ever tasted pure spring water from a plastic bottle compared to a glass bottle, then you will know the difference. Any discriminating wine connoisseur will definitely notice the degraded quality of the finished product. We all drink a fine wine for the taste. If the finished product is less than perfect, what do we have to look forward to? Synthetic corks are bad enough…By Robert Denby
August 27, 2008 6:11 PM | Link to this
Plastic/Pet is as ubiquitous and misleading consequence and terminology-wise as pneumonia or safe sex. Have the a/m self-appointed experts bothered to think beyond their “green friends” and take a personal look at the current scientific research?I import and sell Grand Cru Burgundy [and other swill] but would not dream of my Mazis Chambertin ,Claude Vougeot and Jean-Paul Musigny [why so serious?] as bedfellows to a case of PET bottled VDP or Bojo. YET, I keep an open mind.PET is already fully recyclable, [and the non aluminium closures will be too] not downcyclable ,as is the case for glass.The carbon footprint axiom is a no brainer concerning transport. Agreed,at production level,considerable energy is consumed to produce quality PET,but this is already changing and within a few years we will have lightweight wine bottles for everyday drinking [ie parking lot wines] made from recycled waste.And you thought barnyard was a trendy aromatic… Research [why don’t you..?] most current scientific articles and you will see that carcinogens in PET -even when temperature challenged -are negligeable.This kind of rubber-limbed thinking is identical to what was bounced around when Stelvin closure started to screw up the cork dork mainstream. PET bottles discarded on the interstates?I’ll clear up my neighborhood’s 2 milesworth anyday rather than deal with my kids’ asthma, courtesy of our collective invisible automotive emissions. Boxed wine will often take on board detrimental oxygen within 8 months-real PET now needs at least 18 before color and flavors change,unless you know something I don’t! After all,all winemaking is about is controlled-N.B. oxygen attack,{and a few cleansing ales afterwards}.Plus,I’ll take a PET wine bottle hiking with me any day,but not a 3 liter box. Stacy-please reveal the research to me showing leeching carcinogens in PET! Sasha-noone expects wineries to purchase recycled bottles! But once consumed they do generate demand and dollars for anything from tshirts to carpets-unlike glass. The reasons as to why we bottle in glass are extremely complex,and nothing,including what those green-lipped neersayers may spout is as simple as it might appear,in my humble opinion. BTW-I have not the slightest affiliation to Boisset.By Morton Leslie
August 27, 2008 3:37 PM | Link to this
The reasons we bottle in glass are simple. PET have a problem oxygen permeation and shelf life. While the differences are small in the first year, the changes in color and sulfites are noticeable. This may not be an issue with inexpensive quaffing wine which are consumed in the first year after bottling, like Boisett’s Nouveau, but for many of us it is. There are some secondary issues as well. Most of my “green” friends have real problems with the substance (plastic)in general, and particular problems with the ubiquitous PET water bottles that litter the highways. And it just isn’t litter, they feel glass is inert and a healthier storage material. Many realize there is a big difference between re-cycle-able and re-cycled. Finally, though it’s a good idea to try to save on green house gas emissions wherever possible, bottling wine in PET is not going to save the planet. I walk to the store and buy my wine in glass.By Enobytes
August 27, 2008 3:22 PM | Link to this
Another issue is shelf life. Since plastic packaging allows more oxygen to get into the product, it’s more suited for wines like sauvignon blanc; and then there are health issues which revolve around the implications of storing wine in plastic, which is a highly controversial debate.By Sasha
August 27, 2008 11:55 AM | Link to this
Saying that plastic bottles are easily recyclable is one thing, but actually (as a winery) buying recycled bottles is another. Are they expecting others to recycle their materials, or are they leading by example and using post-consumer recycled materials? Also, why not take this a bit further and produce boxed wine (even less weight, and less plastic to be recycled)?By Stacy Nelson
August 27, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this
Plastic bottles, when heated and cooled, release carcinogens into the contents which are said to cause cancer (o.k. - everything causes cancer but bear with me…). That said, do you think that the cancer reducing qualities in the red wine will be balance out ?