The Case of the Overweight Bottle

Those hefty bottles always seem ostentatious to me. I don't think Martha or Ralph would go there. Think understated; Prius is the new Jag. (But your packaging and, most importantly, your wines are terrific overall!)

We don;t use heavy bottles anymore...and have not notices a difference in sales.

I do appreciate seeing a premium wine packaged in a "designer" style bottle. Like many other products package is part of the experience when you cross over a certain price point. However, I have picked up a few bottles which weighed so much that completely turned me off... "totally unnecessary" I thought. I don't know much about bottle manufacturing technology, but is it possible to create a distinctive bottle design without making it too heavy?

If environmental concerns are driving the discussion, then look to Tetra-Paks, screw tops, and larger sizes.

I notice when paying for shipping on cases that I bought, that the weight of the bottles is a major part of the weight.

The only other concern is to avoid breakage of the bottle in shipping or even handling at home. Does a large heavy bottle survive better? Or is it more likely to be dropped given its weight?

The real test is out of the glass how does it taste? Dry Creek has always done well on that score!

I really appreciate everyone's comments. The problem with tetra paks, and other alternative packaging, is that the majority of wine drinkers associate these with lower end products. Think about it, would you want to plop down $55 for a wine in a box? And, screw caps are actually terrible for the environment (non recyclable, etc.) although restaurants love them because of the ease of opening, especially when a wine is being poured by the glass. I'm pretty certain there's a suitable alternative, something lighter that works with our label yet still handsome enough to set the Endeavour Cab apart from our other wines. I've got tons of samples coming; will report back!

Hi Wilma,

Glad you are interested in this important subject! I co-authored some research into the issue and you can see a summary of our findings here:

http://www.drvino.com/2007/10/30/calculating-the-carbon-footprint-of-wine-my-research-findings/

Feel free to join the fray!

Your research is fascinating; thanks for sharing. Maybe we should just ditch the 750ml bottles and just bottle magnums! It certainly would make a statement, although I doubt the trade would go for it!

What I personally dislike about the large bottles, which I find is very typical of Syrah, is the amount of space they consume in my wine rack. I can only fit two of them where 3 normal bottles could go, and to me, that uses my precious wine rack space inefficiently.

How about a range of small-carbon-footprint gifts made available. For some reason I thought of some of the inexpensive but tasteful handcrafted artesanry made in the third world. May be too contrived. Better to state with a noble bottle itself. Selecting the source of the glass by knowing the econometric literature of various manufacturing methods and who uses them, as suggested above, sounds worthwhile. Now if we could convince Saccharomyces to skip the production of CO2 in red caps during fermentation, we would be making progress reducing greenhouse gas.

Random thoughts-

I'm not sure what the problem really is.

You make a good product, package it well using materials that are renewable and recyclable. It is most likely transported by the least expensive method which means the transporter is EFFICIENT.

The transportation issue will be a problem (to one degree or another) until something like hydrogen vehicles are available. But the problem cannot be solved without profits being invested into research. Businesses need to continue to be successful while researching solutions.

The gases coming from production of product, container and shipping are now just dumped, like sewerage into a lake. Wine is a natural product, packaged in a simple container, boxed with renewable materials.

As far as greenhouse gases go, it would be better to reclaim and reuse these gases in such a way as to render them neutral rather than just reduce them.

Finally what is critical is NOT to introduce a larger problem with the attempt at a correction.

Amen Richard! You are right on many accounts.
The problem is the wine press has already gotten a hold of this subject and it seems like I'm seeing more and more negative coverage. And, we don't want to be singled out as a "toe stubber" on a repeated basis. So, while we're still in the research stage (gathering glass samples, etc.) it seems like ultimately, we'll switch bottles and end up lightening the load. As long as the end result is still attractive and cost effective, I can't see how it will hurt the image or presentation of the product. Besides, it's what's in the bottle that counts, right?!

I like the larger uniquely shaped bottles, though a bottle on the order of Shafer Hillside can be little excessive. People can say otherwise all they want, there is a subtle, subliminal impact that a bigger bottle has on a consumer. Of course It's what is in the bottle that counts, but the movement from store shelf to a customers winerack is where the magic of marketing comes in. I agree we should be better stewards of our planet, I am just uncertain that shipping difference between the larger bottles and more 'modestly' sized bottles will amount to more than a tiny drop in a very large bucket.

I select my wine for the wine, not the bottle. Notably your Old Vine and Endeavor bottles are cool enough that I have olive/sesame/infused oils in them around the kitchen. The shape of the bottle is not a selection criteria, but a bonus to my kitchen...and for some reason I keep most of the cool bottles, the rest go to a glass sculpting friend.

I have mixed feelings on the TetraPak product. I like the idea of packaging which keeps the wine drinkable for days while cutting cost and making Earth smile, but its going to take an all-out assault by the wine industry to force the packaging upon the market. I doubt most wine-drinkers are willing to put pride aside, and unscrew the cap until the pop-culture wine matriarchs start pouring Silver Oak and Opus One for their friends from a box.

Its time for the wine business to evolve though, and if that gets wine to my glass cheaper, so be it...twist open a box and get the decanter.

I think I may have found the perfect alternative bottle! It's lighter and a wee tad less expensive, and best of all it fits our current Endeavour label, capsule, etc. (Resizing all that would be a nightmare.) And, it's still very handsome so most probably won't notice the difference, yet it's a positive change in our effort to be environmentally responsible. Stay tuned and thanks to everyone for commenting on this subject.

I appreciate the aesthetic aspect of a nice bottle, but have to come down on the no side here. I have found that some of the larger and heavier bottles won't fit in my wine chiller and as a retailer who ships, I hate that they require different packing materials for shipping. While shipping does go by weight, the difference in cost used to be relatively negligible for the heavier bottles simply because the base charge for shipping can be the majority of the costs. (i.e., 12 bottles don't cost twice as much to ship as six bottles, rather only about 20% more. Now that fuel is much more expensive, though, we may see a change).

Hi Mel. I'm back. Sorry for not posting in so long. Forgive me, but I actually pretended to myself that I was "above"