Wine Club Insider back again…

Maybe spring is finally on it’s way, though the only real clue is that it’s raining a ton, instead of snowing…

One of the neat things about this time of year is that the “young” wine – the fresh whites and fruity wines from the ’08 vintage are starting to come out, and of course, you can always buy the futures in the Grand Crus for the next few years…

Another cool trend we’re starting to see is an – admittedly slight – shift toward being a greener industry…

For example, Boisset, the second-largest producer of Beaujolais Nouveau, bottled its entire 2008 harvest in plastic bottles.

The lightweight PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles drastically cut shipping costs without affecting the young Gamay wine inside and created packaging that was “absolutely recyclable,” according to a company spokesman.

Now, there are certainly other (myself included) that don’t think the wine industry has developed more than a green tint yet, despite the rise in the number of biodynamic and organic wineries internationally.

PET bottles are only at the very leading edge, but there are huge hurdles still left to climb, including the wineries shipping their wines in wooden crates. The number of wooden crates that are opened at warehouses and stores is incredible. Some of them weigh nine pounds, just for the case!. If they were serious about the green trend, the wineries would forget the wood and ship in recycled corrugated cardboard.

This isn’t even touching the entire cork issue, which is going to come to a head soon as supply and disease (not to mention the improving effectiveness of synthetic cork and screw caps, which are making huge inroads, even in higher end Australian wines).

I’m optimistic that our indusrty will start developing a cure to the serious case of “traditionitis” they are suffering from (mind you, it is brought on by us, the consumers!) and get on the environmentally friendlier bandwagon…

Yes, we may have to get used to our favorite vino coming in a plastic bottle (I can deal with that easily) and using a screw cap (a tougher sell for many, despite the inevitable “corking” that is going to occur in your bottles), and know that we are doing our part… a great excuse to drink more wine, if you ask me!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out.