The Plastic Wine Bottle Has Arrived.

Back in March last year I talked about my experiment of using recycled PET bottles for my wine and that the commercial industry was seriously looking into this.

Well it has happened!

Australian wine maker Wolf Blass has released a range of wines called 'Green Label' in PET bottles. They are 36% lighter in weight than the traditional standard 750 mL glass bottle, are shatterproof and 100% recyclable.

Incorporated in the bottle is an active oxygen scavenging agent which will increase the shelf life of the product.

This technology allowes the wine to remain in the bottle for 12 months with no impact on the flavour, aroma or colour. The new lines however are not intended for cellaring, but for the rather large market sector that usually consumes wine within 48 hours of purchase.

Australia has had a mixed reaction to changes to traditional packaging of alcohol over time.
While the nation embraced the "bag in a box" wine cask revolution in the 1970s, moves to market beer in PET bottles in the 1990s were less successful although they still make appearances at large events such as music festivals and sporting events, where glass is frowned upon.
But there has been a broad acceptance of screw caps on premium wine bottles after a period of scepticism which was a signal that consumers would embrace change that was for the good.
Maybe they will also see this in a similar vein.

Personally I believe there is a long way to go with this development but it will be interesting to follow its progress.