The Newest Trend In Wine: 'Light' Wine Bottles?
If you haven't lifted a case of wine lately — don't. (Your back will thank you.) The average weight of a bottle of wine — and therefore a case — has been going up for two decades. For many producers, an extra-heavy bottle is a marketing strategy to get you to believe the quality of the wine is somehow higher. (It isn't necessarily.) A case of wine is now so heavy that the European Union recently suggested that wine should only be packaged in half cases (six bottles) to insure worker safety. Into the craziness has recently come some sanity. Several producers are now suggesting that extra-heavy wine bottles are not only difficult to lift, they are also a disservice to the environment. Heavy bottles — especially of imported wines — mean greater amounts of energy must be used to transport the wine, not to mention the greater use of glass itself.
Enter the "light" bottle. Several producers around the globe have now intentionally moved to very light glass as part of their commitment to sustainability. Take MUD HOUSE from New Zealand which recently introduced a bottle that's 10 percent lighter than the winery's previous bottle, resulting in a reduction of up to half a ton of weight per container of wine exported. That's a lot of weight — and energy saved.
For us at Bottlenotes, the idea "lighten up," has taken on a whole new meaning.