Packaging to protect the planet

There’s a lot of discussion about sustainability in winemaking right now.

We’re proud to be at the forefront of that conversation, leading by example and waving the flag for better practices across our industry.

But with so much focus on the growing and winemaking side of things, it’s an often overlooked fact that the majority of a wine’s carbon footprint actually comes from something else: its packaging.

At Itasca, we’ve kept this fact very much in mind right from the start of our journey. In our opinion, there would be very little point building a truly sustainable operation from the ground up if we then fell at the final hurdle of how the wine’s packaged and presented. On top of that, we wanted our contract winemaking customers to be absolutely happy in the knowledge that every part of the process we provide is delivered with planet friendly integrity.

We also knew that whatever we ultimately chose in terms of packaging not only had to meet our eco standards, but also our very high quality standards too. This led us to partner with some leading specialist sustainable packaging suppliers, all of whom share our commitment to doing things “right”. From ground-breaking bio-sourced corks to fully recycled cardboard, we sourced solutions that find the perfect balance of sustainability and quality.

This need for balance is most obvious when selecting the bottles themselves. Too light, and the security and safety of the product is at risk – especially when you consider sparkling wine has a bottle pressure of 6 bar, which is the same as a double-decker bus tyre! But too heavy, and it’s a waste of resources to make and fuel to lug around. We’ve settled on a happy mid-point for our bottles that reduces the impact on the environment while still keeping the wine inside, well, inside.

And take it from us, wine tastes even better when you know how much care and thought has gone into making its production completely sustainable.