Karly Wines

At Karly we somewhat derisively call it "greenwashing", but you are doubtless aware there is a lot of bragging going on in many industries these days about how environmentally responsible is this or that business. The hype is largely intended to gain a marketing edge, and a lot of it is bunk! The wine industry is one of the most actively holy in this regard. Converting your tractor to run on electricity may at first seem a cool idea, but when you factor in the production and waste stream of battery materials, account for the hydrocarbon fuels burned at distant power plants and transmission line losses to move electrons to recharge the tractor, the overall cycle can actually result in more overall energy use and pollution, just at a different site. With our customers cooperation however, we think we have recently hit upon a practice that truly reduces energy use and pollution...light-weight bottles. We started using them about one-year ago; maybe you have not yet noticed.

Thirty plus years ago when I first got the winery bug, wine bottles came in only about a half dozen styles, mostly Burgundy and Bordeaux (claret). After consuming the contents, the empties could be re-boxed and collected and were sent off to be washed and sanitized, repacked, and used again. This is still the common practice in Europe. But then the industry grew exponentially and there were a lot more wineries. In an effort to differentiate from competitors and convey a special image, the number of bottle types also exploded. It did not help that self adhesive labels that remain affixed to bottles in ice buckets and are hard to remove (as you label collectors know), and can be applied with simple unmessy machines were also developed. Bottle washing and recycling effectively ended.

Two years ago we became aware of a new line of bottles offered by our supplier, Saint Gobain Containers. This world-wide company had reviewed their whole material, production, and logistic chain with a goal to minimize the cost and environmental impact of producing and distributing glass containers. They now offer light weight, good-looking wine bottles that cost less, use less material (100 percent of collected recycled glass, now 66% of the total), use less energy to melt and mold, they don't overload standard size trailers so more cases can be carried per gallon of diesel burned by trucks, and don't hurt my back as much loading - win, win, win, win. They also work well with screwcaps and help us keep prices down, but more about that another time.

Now comes your part. I think most of you are too smart to be seduced into thinking that a big heavy bottle means better wine quality and is more desirable and worth more money. You do agree?! We first used these bottles for our less expensive Pokerville Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc wines, and recently put our premium Warrior Fires and Sadie Upton Zinfandels into lightweight bottles. So far we have not noticed any sales difference from the previous taller, heavier bottles. Do any of you feel cheated?? How about continuing to buy our wine and helping us save the world 750ml at a time?