In an Australian market debut, flatter wine bottles made of recycled PET plastic will be available in select Liquorland and First Choice Liquor Market stores from later this month.
The bottles are designed by sustainable packaging company Packamama, and have been adopted for the launch by Accolade Wines’ Banrock Station and Taylors Wines’ One Small Step.
Known as ‘eco-bottles’, the design is described as having the ‘high-shouldered silhouette of a traditional Bordeaux wine bottle’ but a slimmer, flatter profile. This is said to be 83 per cent lighter than typical glass bottles, and allows twice as many bottles to fit in a standard case of wine, meaning production energy and transport emissions can be reduced.
Packamama Chief Executive and Founder, Santiago Navarro, believes the bottles are the next step in Australia’s tradition of creative packaging solutions.
“Australia is globally recognised as a leader in wine packaging thanks to break-through innovations, including bag-in-box casks and screw-top caps for wines,” Navarro said.
“We are highly motivated to launch our climate-friendly bottle at Coles with Accolade Wines and Taylors Wines. Coles’ ambition to be Australia’s most sustainable retailer is powerfully aligned with our ambition to deliver the world’s most scalable, sustainable bottle.”
These sentiments are mirrored by those in the Coles Liquor camp.
“We know our customers want us to do more in relation to sustainability and this exclusive collaboration with Liquorland, First Choice Liquor Market, Packamama, Taylors Wines and Accolade Wines significantly reduces the carbon footprint of wine for customers every day,” said Mia Lloyd, Coles Liquor Acting General Manager for Customer, Trade Planning & Insights.
The introduction of these bottles represents a possible future for sustainability in Australian wine, with Coles Liquor outlining that the bottles could save up to 250,000km of road freight per year, if they were fully adopted. This would be the equivalent of a semi-trailer travelling from Melbourne to Broome 50 times.
For Accolade, this is the latest in a series of sustainable initiatives in recent times, building on a recent partnership with ecoSPIRITS.
“In the last 18 months alone, we have launched a variety of sustainable and innovative packaging solutions including wine in cans, wine on tap, bagnums, as well as a world-first circular, sustainable packaging solution for on-premise partners,” said Sandy Mayo, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Accolade Wines.
“We chose Banrock Station to launch the eco-bottle in Australia, because the environmental credentials fit perfectly with the brand’s 25 year sustainability heritage and its commitment to forging a more sustainable future for the planet.”
Meanwhile, Mitchell Taylor, third-generation Winemaker and Managing Director of Taylors Wines, believes that the Australian market is ripe for this kind of initiative.
“We know that Australian wine drinkers are very open to innovation when it provides real benefits, like this sustainable eco-bottle does,” he said.
“Australia led the global change from cork to screwcap and Taylors was the first major producer to bottle all our wines under the closure.
“We believe Australians will again lead in adopting this more sustainable bottle.”
These new PET bottles also come at a time when fears of a glass bottle shortage have circulated in the industry globally.
For the start of this exclusive launch with Coles Liquor, Banrock Station’s Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir wines, as well as Taylors One Small Step Chardonnay and Shiraz expressions, will become available in eco-bottles.