Sustainability Efforts

Question 1

Reusable Glass Schemes

Answer 1

Revino - Oregon
- 85% reduction in emissions vs. single use
- btls washed up to 50 times
- less than 31% of glass is recycled
- Porto Protocol says bottle production creates 40 billion pounds of CO2 annually
- glass recycling requires heating to a high melting point of 1500C. Reusing glass can reduce water use by 51%

• bottles are 495g
• glass itself is made of 50% recycled glass
• has a subtle leaf motif and an embossment on the bottle that says REFILLABLE - allowing for easy sorting
• closed loop system
• revino estimates 55 million lbs of CO2 emissions and 23 million lbs of waste can be diverted by 2030
• consumers need to return the bottle to a participating return location (vineyards, retailers - some offer a benefit to encourage returns e.g. 10c)
• Oregon has an existing reusable bottle deposit system!
• Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative operates “Bottle Drop network”
• producers who use bottles are required to have return information - standardized sidebar to encourage consumer returns

2024
- 30 producers, 2.4M bottles
- needs to be used three times to break even on carbon emissions
- acting as a collection point, get 10c rebate for bottles

Bottle cost - $12/case
second purchase bottles - $10.80/case
incentives to return full palates
MOQ - 1 pallet (1776 bottles cased)

Quality control
- EBI (electric bottle inspector) checks bottle w/ a camera system for fissures, residue, defects
- also do random human inspections
- Upstream & PR3 for development of ANSI standards
- use lot numbers of washed glass pallets to track potential issues

Revino bottles can be used in other markets; working to develop a regional reuse ecosystem

in 1900 - 100% of bevs in US utilized a refillable bottle system. now less than 2% of bottling is done in refillable containers

they have 40+ producers selling wines that retail for between $35-$85 in Oregon signed on, with the goal of expanding nationwide.

Question 2

Sustainable Wine Roundtable - Bottle Weight Accord weight

Answer 2

reduce from 550g to 420g by 2026

Question 3

Champagne Telmont

Answer 3

• no gift boxes, reduced footprint by 8%
• bottles now 835 grams - lightest on market (vs. 900 g)
• a champagne bottle has 2x the pressure of a tire
• only green glass (87% recycled)
• no planes for transit, only boats & road. have seen 2x digit growth on revenue!

Question 4

Plastic Bottles

Answer 4

Sonoma - Ron Rubin Winery
-53 g (15% weight of avg wine bottle)
- recycled PET, ultra thing layer of glass called Plasmax which protects wine from oxidation
- HOWEVER, recent studies have found that recycled PET can ahve higher concentrations of chemicals than new PET

Question 5

Average glass bottle cost (California)

Answer 5

The average cost of a glass bottle has risen 8% from $1.91 to $2.07

biggest increase of 16% being reported by Napa County wineries that pay an average of $2.74 for the bottles they use the most.

Sonoma County wineries reported a higher average cost of $3.33 after increasing 8% from $3.07.

Question 6

Capsules

Answer 6

50% of surveyed wineries by the Packaging Survey report said they are no longer using capsules, 61% said decision was cost based

Baldacci Family Vineyards - decision came about during pandemic as capsules required long lead times. Replaced capsule with a cigar wrapper label on their luxury bottling “The Thomas Collection”

Question 7

Regen One Block Challenge

Answer 7

Renerative Viticulture Foundation launched a pilot project in Paso Roblesart

Jan 2025, 46 vineyards

camraderie (via WhatsApp Slack channels), can also see changes

Question 8

Argentina wine market numbers

Answer 8

WINE IN ARGENTINA
Exports 2021:
$850m (10/188)

Wine was the 14th most exported product in Argentina.

Main destination: United States ($241m), United Kingdom ($129m), Brazil ($83.9m), Canada ($72.1m), and Netherlands ($26.1m).

Imports 2021:
$6.93m (115/224)
Main importing countries: France ($3.5m), Chile ($1.22m), Spain ($552k), Italy ($463k), and Switzerland ($357k).

Argentina considers Chile it’s biggest competitor

Has focused on premiumization because the peso has been devalued which makes the cost of imported goods de facto higher (cork etc.)

Question 9

Bottle Weight

Answer 9

Catena - currently 416g on average
- has reduced to 380g for one of its Malbec brands

has reduced bottle weight by 40% from 2008 to 2023

Catena released range of no/low wine

N.O. rosae 0.0% abv, made with Airen
- rose petals are added!
De alcoholized Edem Rosae
botanical infused Chardonnay