ProWein is the world’s largest and most important trade fair for wine and spirits. Held from March 19th to 23rd, it is the ideal opportunity to learn about the latest packaging trends, in particular bag-in-box.
Producing glass bottles is energy-intensive, and rising energy prices have increased the cost of glass wine bottles by 30 percent. There is currently a glass wine bottle shortage due to the war in Ukraine, and the bottles also account for a large percent of wine producers' carbon footprints. A three litre bag-in-box reduces CO2 footprints by 84 percent.
Tablas Creek winemaker Jason Haas, has moved his three entry level wines into bag-in-box.
“Compared to the packaging required to put wine into four standard 750 ml glass bottles, the carbon footprint of the three litre bag-in-box package is 84 Percent less, and the carbon footprint of distributing that package is 60 Percent less. The public is more than open they’ve ever been to alternative packaging. The first hurdle, which I assumed would be the biggest one, turned out to be no big deal,” said Haas.
Bag-in-box wine is already well established in Scandinavia with high-end German producers like VDP members Dönnhoff (Nahe), Maximin Grünhaus (Mosel), Leitz (Rheingau) and vendors like MEJS – Weinspezialisten (Bergzabern) already on board.
German wine available in bag-in-box has recently expanded as major online retailers like Jacques Weindepot and Rindchen’s Weinkontor have recognized the advantages and a growing market niche. The main suppliers are France and Italy, with a wide range of price points and sizes (up to 10 litres). The new format three liter bag-in-box is narrow enough to fit in the fridge door, resulting in a larger side area, which has started inspiring package designers.
The smaller 1.5 litre wine pouch is also increasingly popular in Europe, and it is a bag without a box. Wildmark, a joint venture of Katharina Wechsler and Kai Schätzel in Westhofen/Rheinhessen, recently launched an Unfiltered Organic Riesling and an Unfiltered Organic Rosé in this format and Reiner Flick of Weingut Flick in Flörsheim am Main/Rheingau is set to follow shortly. Here there is a roughly 90 Percent reduction in the carbon footprint compared with two 75cl glass bottles.
The move from glass bottles to bag-in-box is just the tip of the alternative wine packaging iceberg. During the last couple of years, there has been huge growth in wine and wine-based beverages in recyclable aluminium cans in America. Alternatively, much of Europe has chosen to instead embrace wine in stainless steel kegs for on-premise wines by-the-glass sales. Miguel Torres Chile recently introduced its Rio Claro Organic Carmenère red in the Packamama rPET bottle to the Systembolaget Swedish alcohol monopoly. This a flat bottle made from 100 Percent recycled PET, that’s also designed to be recycled. None of this is new technology, but it does have to do with a new and much-needed openness to alternatives. And both producers and retailers have only just begun to play the ecological and climate change cards in their marketing.
