Whats in your wine bottle?

[GardenersAlmanac]

I realised the other day that I am seeing more and more plastic corks in wine bottles (nothing to do with the wine consumed). Its really annoying if there is organic wine in the bottle too.

Cork is produced in a sustainable way, reasonably locally (Portugal), providing valuable employment in relatively poor rural locations, its a very light product so cheap to transport, biodegradeable after use, its almost perfect for the job.

Plastics produced from oil are unsustainable, require energy to produce, the production process pollutes the environment, they will not biodegrade, produce little employment....

Where is the logic in this?

I would like to start a new movement - I just need a great slogan or chant to get it started. Can you think of a name for such a movement?

I might start with a boycott of plastic corked bottles - trouble is I have to open them to find out....

[rad-gone]

If it isnt plastic corks - its screw tops - long gone are the days that a screw top = a 3.99 bottle of plonk!

One of my fave tipples is a nice bottle of penfolds bin389 - they havent sold out .. yet... still get a natural stop in that.

[RayB]

It does seem daft to use plastic, I don't know the rationale. I guess the trend is more towards screw tops, I have an open mind on which is the most eco-friendly?

[Eco2You]

I think the best way to avoid all of this kind of nonsense is to buy it in BIG packs like this

http://www.vinvert.co.uk/wineboxes.htm

:)

Or make it yourself, something my dad used to do- so can't be that hard.

I mean whats cooler, some Australian thats been flown 5,000 miles, or something organically grown in your back garden?

That is if you like gooseberry, and Rhubarb......lol

[creacom]

Its a tough one.

Traditional corks are prone to corking wine. around 7& of all wine consumed is corked. On the other hand, plastic corks have a negative image with the general public but do hold the wine much better and prevent corking.

Sadly I dont think the green aspect will come into this at all. People still cant get their head around the fact that a plastic cork is better thna wine - never mind it being more eco-friendly !

Jacqui :)

[Jayne]

My hubby likes American wine, but it does have a real cork in it. I cannot remember the name as I cannot stand the stuff. It's not very good on carbon footprint though, as it is shipped from the USA.

I on the other hand, drink English, real beer, so am very environmentally friendly :)

Jayne

[Eco2You]

No one wants Bouchinay... or however you spell it :)

[frockery]

We are lucky as we have a local winery in rural Perthshire, run by the somewhat eccentric Ron Gillies whose publicity stunts and sense of humour are legendary. He started off making the stuff form locally grown fruit as a hobby and it has grown into a fairly significant enterprise.

It's called Cairn o'Mohr (http://www.cairnomohr.co.uk/)(get it?), packs a powerful punch and they use real corks!

Regards, Alison

[Brian McIntosh]

I tried the Cairn o'Mohr Oak Leaf wine a few years ago. It was an acquired taste but once it was acquired...I didn't Cairn o'Mohr.

I tend to look for bottles with screw tops as I can never find a cork screw although I must say that cork would be my preference. It's a great sound on a Friday night pulling the cork out of a bottle.

[frockery]

I tried the Cairn o'Mohr Oak Leaf wine a few years ago. It was an acquired taste but once it was acquired...I didn't Cairn o'Mohr.

LOL, it has that effect! The bramble is my favourite. :)

Must get some more stock in for the festive season when they next do the local farmer's market.

Regards, Alison

[tim124]

somebody told me the plastic corks were cheaper than cork ones

[Brian McIntosh]

Traditional corks are prone to corking wine. around 7& of all wine consumed is corked.

That's maybe the answer. Although, in all my years of wine drinking I've never came across a corked bottle. Or I don't think I have. I've been told that I would be able to tell immediately and I don't think my sense of taste is that bad.

[pickaweb]

Does not tend to happen with french wine.
It is horrible to get a plastic cork.

[awebapart.com]

After watching the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary on Coca Cola, perhaps we should be asking what's in your coke bottle. The documentary mentioned that it takes 2.5 litres of water to make 1 litre of Coke and that Coca Cola are striving to become 'water neutral' in the future.

Back to more interesting subject of wine, I though this thread was going to be about ingredients. Since my better half is vegan, this is something we have to look out for when buying wine. The best main-street shop we have found is the Coop, which actually lists ingredients on it's Coop label wines and says whether the wine is suitable for vegetaians or vegans. There's not that many vegan wines, not even many vegetarian wines, since a lot of wines use either gelatin, egg albumen, or isinglass (fish products) in the fining process (http://www.smithfieldwine.com/acatalog/our-wines.html).

[Sally@CC]

There's not that many vegan wines, not even many vegetarian wines, since a lot of wines use either gelatin, egg albumen, or isinglass (fish products) in the fining process (http://www.smithfieldwine.com/acatalog/our-wines.html).

I am so pleased I don't drink alcohol YUK

[Provenancewines]

Hi everyone, thought i added my bit of knowledge in the matter! Yes, plastic corks are cheaper. Big brands on the market or those who want their wine to be consumed pretty sharpish (!) a way of not incurring additional costs for a wine consumed in its youthful years. Wines which are meant to age or done in a traditional manner will have a proper cork and not plastic. As to what is best between plastic and screw tops, I personally go for screw tops. Easier for an immediate consumption. Although you will see brands like Cloudy Bay, a premium wine bottled with a screw top. Difficult to ascertain what is the best way in terms of being eco-friendly. I work with winemakers who still produce their wines in a traditional manner, with hardly any use of machinery, however, apart from one, will not certify they are Organic. I also try to convert wine drinkers to buy quality wines in a bag-in-box for their regular consumption, as it is more eco-friendly than buying wine in green glass bottles. The UK capacity for recyling green glass has reached its level and it takes more energy to recycle tahn the bag-in-box and carbon foot print to have these imported to the UK. The debate could go on. At the moment, there are very few eco-friendly alternatives for wine. On a different subject, egg whites are often used in thinning or fining wines and again for vegetarians or vegans the alternative is difficult to find, or very expensive and the range is limited. I currently only have one wine which meets some of the "more eco-friendly" wines, which is Chateau de Bonhoste white wine. The thinning process has been done with bentonite (clay based) and you can have it in both bag-in-box and bottles. The bag-in-box concept will probably start a debate about "how eco-friendly are they" but for wines, the question remain "what are the alternetives?" Bag-in-box or boxed wine is still an issue in the UK, when we see that in the rest of the world it represents a huge segment of wine purchase/consumption. Our friends in Scandinavia are big purchasers of this kind of packaging, realising that is more "green" if not entirely than bottles wine. Obviously, there are occasions when one does want to open a bottle of wine because it is a vintage or for the sheer pretext that the sound of the cork popping out is more of a celebration ,a beautiful sound...i can't argue with this. I love it too. And the debate could go on...
I list on my site both boxed wines and bottled wines which are the same and vintages from the same estates, all AOC (it it means something to some), all from very small wine producers who are trying to be innovative and up with green issues. Until we find a 100% green solution, maybe we have to compromise and just take that small step forward...

[Fill-Your-World]

The best main-street shop we have found is the Coop, which actually lists ingredients on it's Coop label wines and says whether the wine is suitable for vegetaians or vegans. There's not that many vegan wines, not even many vegetarian wines, since a lot of wines use either gelatin, egg albumen, or isinglass (fish products) in the fining process (http://www.smithfieldwine.com/acatalog/our-wines.html).

Yes the coop is really good for labelling. Im vegan and used to buy my wine from there all the time, although I dont drink anymore. Just wanted to add a big thumbs up for the coop though :D