The Wine Society puts six of its best in BiB

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 18 May, 2023

The Wine Society has announced the launch of an alternative packaging trial, which will see several of its top SKUs becoming available via bag-in-box (BiB).

Following detailed research, The Wine Society is now making public the findings of an ‘extensive’ Alternative Packaging for Wine report, which set outs the objective of introducing lower carbon packaging formats.

Now, the members club is putting its best alt-packaging foot forward with the launch of its best-selling wines in BiB. These span The Society’s White Burgundy 2022 (The Society’s top selling wine) alongside The Society’s Gruner Veltliner 2022, The Society’s English White 2022, The Society’s Claret 2021, The Society’s French Pinot Noir 2022 and The Society’s Exhibition Fleurie 2022.

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The introduction should make significant impact to the Society’s emissions: the first batch of 4,000 BiB is the equivalent of 12,000 glass bottles. A total of around 5 tonnes CO2e will also be slashed – the equivalent of consuming around 2,500 litres of diesel or driving 12,500 miles in an average car.

“As outlined in our Carbon Footprint Report, the production and disposal of glass bottles is top of our emissions hotlist,” Dom de Ville, director of sustainability and social impact, said.

“Glass bottles account for 31% of our total emissions, so if we are to achieve our ambitious reduction targets, we need to significantly reduce the emissions attributable to packaging. This bag-in-box launch forms the first stage of our trial of lower carbon packaging formats and we look forward to hearing what our members think.”

As part of the review, a total of twelve packaging formats were considered by consultancy 3Keel. Of these, six formats were taken forward for further assessment, where parameters such as transport efficiencies, suitability for different styles of wine and waste generated across the life cycle were considered.

The Wine Society’s range of 2.25 litre BiB wines is the first format to be trialled with members.

While other lower carbon packaging formats highlighted in the report are proving ‘logistically more challenging to implement, the Society continues to work closely with manufacturers’, it said.

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