The Vessel

By Mike Muirhead, Sommelier, ISG, CMS

Imagine a world where the aluminum can was invented before glassblowing. Would we have been carefully setting our tables and laying out cans at every place setting while some wine expert tried to convince us that glass is a better option? The evolution of how we package and transport wine has cemented the centuries of traditions and rituals we have developed around drinking it. The challenge for innovation today is shifting stubborn consumer habits when innovations can improve the wine experience so much that they simply cannot be ignored.

Weingut Werlitsch bottles their biodynamic orange wine, Glück, in clay as an ode to ancient wine vessels.

The earliest known wine vessel came from the region now known as Georgia and traces back to roughly 6,000 BCE. These earthenware containers known as kvevri were used in all stages of wine production. Then came the amphora that Greeks and Romans used to transport wine as they expanded their empires. These terracotta amphorae had handles and a pointed bottom that made them ideal for lining the curved walls of their ships’ holds.

Amphorae dominated wine transport for the next 5,500 years until the Celts invented the wine barrel in about 50 BCE. This invention was handy for transport (it fits well in the hulls of ships, and it floats), but it also had a lasting impact on the flavour of the wines. When the Romans started transporting wines in oak, they noticed that the wines became smoother and developed flavours like vanilla, caramel, and spice over time.

The barrel was the preferred method of transportation for nearly the next 2,000 years—until glassblowers developed the skills to create strong and stable bottles. Design decisions made centuries ago continue to influence how we experience wine: our current bottle size—750 ml—is based on the capacity of one fully expelled breath of an average glassblower.

In the last decade, as wine marketing has become more creative, we have seen the biggest (and most rapid) changes in wine packaging since we moved from the clay amphora to the wooden cask.

Need Closure?

Let’s start at the top (literally). Cork has been the undisputed king of closures since 2000 BCE, because it is abundant and easy to harvest (grown mainly in Spain and Portugal) and creates an airtight seal. What changed after 4,000 years? One precursor was the popular, persistent (and false) rumour of a cork shortage in the world. The truth is that cork can be unreliable—inferior cork can leak, causing oxidization, but more crucially, it can be infected with the naturally occurring chemical trichloroanisole (TCA), causing “cork taint” (a wet cardboard flavour in the wine).

The Stelvin™ screw top offers a food-grade seal that is breathable enough to allow age-worthy wines to develop in the bottle. Four thousand years is a long time, though—the wine consumer will take some convincing, as will European (Old World) producers, who are deeply entrenched in their traditions. New World producers have especially championed this shift for three main reasons: they are not burdened with history (it is illegal to seal Burgundy and Bordeaux under screw cap); they are not afraid to let technology and data influence their decisions; and they like to set themselves apart.

From left: Cape Wine Co’s Juno is under screw cap; and Lolailo Sangria comes with a crown closure and a “Lightening” stopper to keep it fresh.

New Zealand put the closure on the map (they are almost 100% under screw cap), and since 2004, Australian Tyrrell’s iconic Vat 1 Semillon has been sealed under screw cap.

What might the future bring? Forward-thinking winemakers are exploring the glass closure called Vinoloc. These closures are 100% inert (meaning they won’t affect the flavour of the wine), easy to produce, and very reliable. The energy needed to recycle them is also significantly lower than the aluminum used for Stelvin. However, as the humble screw cap has taught us, revolution is slow, and proper marketing will be key to mainstream acceptance.

The Shape of Wine

In just 300 years of using glass bottles, there has been one really important innovation: the switch from woodfired glass to the thicker and stronger coal-fired glass (which meant an end to Champagne bottles exploding in the cellars). Glass is a fantastic inert vessel that can be recycled and reused, so—besides standardization and industrialization—we really had not seen any advances in wine bottles until the last 50 years. Glass is also heavy and an inefficient use of space for packaging, making transportation expensive and carbon-intensive.

Jones & Co. wine in cans: Underwood Rosé (also available: Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Bubbles); Lubanzi Chenin Blanc; Solis Lumen Rosé; and Tawse Riesling (also available: Rosé).

However, you cannot stop the march of progress. We have recently discovered some successful new formats. In the last 3 years, more and more winemakers are offering their wares in aluminum cans. These cans are portable, recyclable, and the perfect single wine portion. We first brought in Underwood’s Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir, eventually adding their bubbly. As the format has grown in popularity each year, we have added canned wines from Spier and Lubanzi (South Africa), Tawse (Canada), and Solis Lumen (France).

The popularity of cans has opened the door for a format that has been patiently waiting for its moment in the market. Although it has been around for decades, the Bag-in-Box format—now rebranded as the much trendier “BIB”— has seen the biggest recent push into the market. Quality materials and technology mean that winemakers from around the globe are offering this eco-friendly format. The sealed bag means that wine lasts longer for casual wine drinkers—as well as for restaurants. Casual fine dining leaders Joey and Earls restaurants now pour their by-theglass wines from a proprietary 9L BIB, and Jones & Co. is continually searching for new wines that get the stamp of approval for price and quality. We are also keeping our eye on the “Bagnum”—a grab-and-go 1.5L bag (without the box) that houses quality French wine.

Pinuaga’s 3L La Frasca organic red wine uses BIB to stay fresh for up to 6 weeks after opening.

The wine world is slow and steady, but as technology accelerates, innovators in the industry will keep evolving our experience of wine. If the last decade has shown us anything, it is that the wine industry is getting more comfortable with reinventing itself to adapt to economic and environmental challenges. It has also shown us how deeply ingrained our ideas of wine culture are and how much we cherish not just what is in the package, but also the rituals that surround it.

Swing and a Miss

The past decade has seen a few clever attempts to manage financial and environmental costs—but the market is a fickle beast, and logic does not always prevail.

LIFE IN PLASTIC At an eighth of the weight of glass, the environmental savings of shipping plastic wine bottles are net positive. One of our long-time producers, Joseph Mellot in the Loire Valley, experimented with plastic bottles for over 10 years, trying to create something that looked like glass but was much better for the planet. When wine lovers lifted the smaller, lighter plastic bottles off the shelf, they assumed that there was less wine in the containers—and put them back. After 4 years, Jones & Company eventually discontinued the format on our shelves.

(NOT) HIP TO BE SQUARE One of the most logical answers to economical shipping and lower environmental impact is square bottles—more cases of square bottles fit on a standard pallet, decreasing shipping costs per litre. However, tradition and history swayed wine drinkers away from sense and sensibility, and the square bottles died on the shelf.

From left: Gérard Bertrand’s Côte des Roses seals its unique rose-bottomed bottle with Vinoloc; Cape Wine Co’s Juno is under screw cap; and Lolailo Sangria comes with a crown closure and a “Lightening” stopper to keep it fresh.