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| Source: https://www.decanter.com/magazine/climate-change-rethinking-your-drinking-467605/ |
Viticulture is not always an environmentally friendly proposition. There’s been more focus recently on making wine production less energy intensive, sustainable and environmentally responsible. There has been a movement to reduce fuel, water and nutrient consumption in the vineyard by introducing sustainable biodynamic practices. In the winery, efforts are underway to reduce fuel and electricity consumption, to find more environmentally friendly packaging, and improve the carbon footprint of transport.
Glass bottles are heavy, take a lot of energy to produce and use a lot a fuel to transport. They are also not recycled or reused as often as they should be. So, many people are looking at alternatives, including natural fibers like hemp, corrugated and paper with food-safe PET liners. That doesn't sound terribly good for the environment either. Yes, they are much lighter than glass and would save a lot of costs on transport.
Garçon Wines’ Eco Flat bottle is made from recycled PET and their Flaca wine is shipped in a box that is shaped to fit in a letterbox for gift giving. Seems like a lot of waste to me, but at least it's all recyclable.
My goal will be to make our wine bottles fully reusable, with labels that can be very easily removed. In fact, our production will be small enough to remain local so that we don't ship far and wide, we promote the local economy, and customers return the bottle to our site for refill. Kind of like milk bottles were in my childhood. I like that idea. Of course, it has to be good wine for customers to come back.
