Thursday, September 13 2007

Thinking Inside the Box

I often get asked about alternative packaging for our kit wines--people put it in PET bottles (like plastic soft-drink bottles) or in Wine Waiter bags (mylar bags with dispenser taps) and one customer cans his wine in aluminium beer cans (yes, this is possible, and works fine).

The up 'n' comer in wine packaging (right after screw cap bottles) is definitely Tetra-Pak. Essentially the same kind of box that milk comes in, it's a cardboard carton coated in waxy polymers that form an aseptic seal for liquid products. You can now buy soup, cheese, juices, milk and even wine in a colourful cardboard brick. Heck, Box Wines Blog even dedicates space to reviews of Tetra Pak and foil-bagged wines, and my own parent company, Andrew Peller Limited (hi Uncle John!) puts its popular French Cross line in Tetra Pak.

photo tetrapak.ca

While it isn't traditional, it's quite attractive and environmentally pretty good--less energy goes into making Tetra Pak, and unlike glass bottles, which are costly to recycle, it goes back into the production stream pretty well.

But a company in France is doing one better. Cordier et Mestrezat has started packaging an 8.5 ounce Tetra Pak of red, white or pink Bordeaux wine, complete with a sippy straw. According to this Wall Street Journal article, they're going after a youth market in France, but are more hopeful that they'll score in Canada, the UK and Northern Europe. My only worry with sippy box wines is that my little nephew will mistake his juice box for mine and I'll have to give a sloshed toddler back to his mom. Otherwise, they're perfect for camping or stadiums, or wherever you don't want to pack a heavy bottle in or out.

Will we see Tetra Pak boxes for kit wine? I don't see any reason they couldn't be used, but I'm not sure if the demand is there. Plus, most of the consumer winemakers I talk to like a nice rack of bottles ageing away in their cellars--and that's the nice thing about doing it yourself: taking time and slowing down to enjoy the completion of an activity that human beings have been doing for their entire history. If it was really about space-saving and ultimate convenience, it'd probably be easier just to buy wine.

Of course, nothing wrong with that. Now where's my straw?

Posted by Tim AT 7:24PM

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