April 25, 2025 - 2 comments
Is It Time to Rethink the Wine Bottle?
Natural wine is a climate hero in the vineyard, but when it comes to packaging, it faces the same challenge as conventional wine: the heavy carbon footprint of the glass bottle.
The average 750ml wine bottle weighs about 500 grams, and producing just one of them emits around 0.7 kg of CO₂ equivalent. That’s nearly half of a bottle’s total carbon footprint, with packaging making up a surprising 46% of wine’s overall emissions.
And that’s before it travels. Transporting a bottle by truck can add 0.05 to 0.2 kg CO₂e, depending on distance. Drinking a bottle from across the world, say, French wine in California, not only adds to that footprint but often means flying or shipping heavy cases over vast distances. Choosing local wines is one of the easiest, most impactful choices consumers can make.
But let’s be clear: winemakers aren’t the problem. Many, especially in the natural wine world, are deeply committed to sustainable farming, hand-harvesting, and regenerative practices. But when it comes to packaging, glass, intoduced in the 17th centuary, is still the default. Why? Because it works. It protects wine, preserves tradition, and, crucially, consumers expect it.
Glass isn’t inherently evil: it’s 100% recyclable, and with proper infrastructure, recycling one bottle only produces 100–150g of CO₂e—about a quarter of the emissions of making a new one. Even better, reusing bottles—as in bottle return systems—can drop that number to just 20–50g of CO₂e per use, especially if cleaned and reused efficiently.
These kinds of return schemes aren’t new. Bottle deposit systems once existed across Europe and still thrive in parts of Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavia. Some wineries even encourage you to return their bottles to them. It’s a model that works. But it needs consumer support—and a shift in mindset..jpg)
Right now, few winemakers feel they can afford to experiment with alternatives unless buyers are genuinely open to change. Fortunately, there are exciting options beginning to gain traction:
Lower-Impact Wine Packaging Alternatives :
- Flat recycled PET bottles (e.g. Packamama)] : lightweight, stackable, and made from 100% recycled plastic.
- Aluminum cans, fully recyclable and great for short-term drinking.
- Bag-in-box formats, lower emissions per litre and lighter to ship.
- Flax fiber bottles by Green Gen , plant-based and compostable, though still in early development.
- Refillable kegs or growlers, especially for local wine shops, bars, or wine-on-tap systems.
So no, it’s not about pointing the finger at winemakers. It’s about supporting them as they explore better solutions. If we, as drinkers, stay open to new packaging—and care more about what’s inside than the sound of the cork—we give producers room to innovate.
Does it bother you if wine isn’t in a glass bottle?
