First-of-its-kind wine brand launches in aluminium bottles

Weighing in at just 90 grams, "so 80% lighter than a standard glass bottle, but also 80 boxes of 12 per pallet instead of 56, and a material that can be recycled indefinitely", the 75 cl aluminium bottle has multiple advantages, which Jody Bogle from the eponymous Californian winery was rather proud to be listing as the bottle launched at ProWein this year.

"It also means 43% more bottles in a 40-foot container with the same number of pallets, while keeping the total load 4% lighter", she added, stressing that as transport costs are indexed to weight, the savings per box are significant.

The new four-strong range is branded "Element[AL]" and is the result of three years’ work with an aluminium supplier that until then had only produced cans. "We weren’t fans of packaging wine in cans but we did appreciate the benefits in terms of carbon footprint of aluminium packaging", recalled Bogle.

Once the technical constraints of producing a 75 cl screwcap bottle had been overcome by its supplier, the Bogle family tested its idea and the composition of its range on several thousands of American consumers. "Women aged 21 to 69 were very interested in the packaging, which finally convinced us that our initiative made sense", claimed Bogle. The evidence was made all the more cogent by the fact that after spending 12 months in aluminium bottles, consumers could not tell the difference between the wine and its twin in glass bottles.

Element[AL], which comes in four different labels – Chardonnay, rosé, Pinot grigio and Pinot noir – was listed in each of the fifty US States as soon as Bogle Winery publicised the launch. "We didn’t want to make entry-level wines but rather consummate premium wines. The rosé and the Pinot grigio are matured in stainless steel tanks, but the Pinot noir and the Chardonnay are partially matured in French oak. The benefits of being able to reuse the bottles and lower carbon footprint are essential to our customers who placed orders for them", stressed Bogle.

Source: Vitisphere