'Plastic' bottles for wine 'not inferior'

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Credit: Graeme Weatherspoon

In SA, glass wine bottles of 750ml capacity weigh about 400g while the PET bottles weigh only 50g, bringing vast savings in local and export transport costs.

The PET bottles are also fully recyclable and have a much lower carbon footprint than glass.

Mondi Packaging is producing the PET bottles locally and has been working closely with two European suppliers. The bottles are already widely used for fruit juice, beer and wine in Europe and, says sales manager Louis Moodie: "It was inevitable it would happen here. Mondi hasn't reinvented the wheel but secured this leading technology and launched it here with the back-up of our European partners."

Big benefits

Moodie says the major benefit to the wine industry is that the PET bottles' physical footprint is so much smaller due to its reduced weight and diameter, that up to 36% more product can be transported under the same container price at a saving of an estimated 30c-90c a unit.

"As the 750ml bottle has smaller dimensions than its glass equivalent, the six- or 12-bottle cartons are smaller too.

"We have worked out that if a producer or distributor exports 7 million bottles into a territory that accepts this packaging, such as Scandinavia, it equates to a R3,5m saving," he says.

"This is not an inferior product, despite many urban legends about plastics," says Moodie. "It has the same transparency and aesthetic appeal as glass, but on handling it, its lighter weight and softer feel become apparent. "But these are high-performance PET bottles which are robust and rigid with a beefed-up barrier performance for wine. If filled under good manufacturing practices there is no leaching of any kind."

Backsberg is first

SA's first carbon-neutral wine estate, Backsberg, will be the first to sell wines in the PET bottles and have been actively pursuing the packaging in SA.

"We've been monitoring things abroad," says Guillaume Nel, Backsberg's winemaker, "and we are very happy with the bottle available from Mondi."

Far from putting only entry level wines into the bottles, Backsberg is prepared to put its Merlot where its mouth is.

"This product is something we believe in," says Nel. "We're putting a Merlot and a Sauvignon blanc into the PET bottles, which will be the same wines we've been putting into glass."

While he thinks producers will be sceptical at first and probably use the PET bottles for lowest-level wines, when consumers see the benefits, that will change. The PET bottle looks just like glass and, though thinner, will be the same height as a standard glass bottle.

"We want to make a statement with these bottles," says Nel.

"And while our aim is not to impress people, we do want to be seen as a leader in this area, which is why Backsberg is putting some of its best wines in the PET bottles."

Economic sense

Research shows that 80% of wines worldwide are drunk within two years - and within 48 to 72 hours in SA.

PET bottles make economic and environmental sense. A shelf life of at least two years is guaranteed during which the "wine will not be altered".

The carbon emission from cradle to grave for a fresh-material PET bottle is 53g. For a glass bottle with 50% recycled material (the average in South African wine bottles is about 32%) over the same life span it is 89g. The PET bottle is an "active package" that blocks oxygen from outside - essential for wine storage - and also scavenges the oxygen dissolved in wine and caught in the head space.

Source: Business Day