Some winemakers have moved away from the traditional glass bottles to plastic, aluminum, and Tetra Paks in single-serving or larger options
Boisset Family Estates sells 250-milliliter “Tetra Paks” of its French Rabbit wine. All you need is a straw. The wines are good for picnics in places where glass is prohibited. They can also be thrown in a cooler without too much trouble.
The company also has released wines in aluminum bottles (Mommessin 2007 Beaujolais Nouveau 2007) and non-leaching, recyclable plastic bottles (Yellow Jersey). The ’08 Mommessin Beaujolais Nouveau is sold in the PET plastic bottle. For their efforts, Boisset was named 2008 “Innovator of the Year” by Wine Enthusiast magazine.
Not to be outdone, filmmaker and winemaker Francis Coppola sells Sofia sparkling wine (named after his filmmaker daughter) in small aluminum cans.
Stealing Ideas From the Grocery Store
For Charles Bieler, “chief thief” at Three Thieves winery in California’s Napa Valley, alternative packaging was a step forward.
Bieler has a habit of visiting supermarkets when he travels abroad. He saw Italian shoppers throwing Tetra Paks of wine into their shopping carts along with their groceries. “We used to buy milk and juice in glass bottles and now we don’t,” Bieler told the Star-Ledger in 2007. “With glass, 48 percent of the volume is the bottle.”
So Bieler and his cohorts released the Bandit line of boxed wines in 2004. Each package, similar to those holding soy milk and chicken broth, has a liter of pinot grigio, chardonnay, merlot, or cabernet sauvignon. Only four percent of the volume is the box. Tetra Paks are recyclable and you get 33 percent more wine since most bottles are 750 milliliters. “I grew up with hippie parents so I was very conscious of shipping and the carbon footprint,” Bieler says. “Plus, with a non-glass container you can take wine to places where you couldn’t bring it before like the beach or poolside.”
From Refrigerator White to Black Box
Also, more box wines of better quality are available. Refrigerator White? Gone. On some wine retailers shelves are 1.5 and 3 liter boxes with collapsible bladders. Hardys Stamp wine was introduced in the United States in 2003 and was joined by Banrock Station. Black Box is a premium 3 liter box wine. There are also value producers such as Corbett Canyon, Bota Box and King Fish. The 3-liter boxes are excellent for large gatherings, and the leftovers can keep for weeks in the fridge.
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