SA wines get eco-friendly

Cape Town - As South Africa continues to defy the global economic downturn by increasing the export of its packaged wines each year, it is also making concerted moves to lower the weight of its wine bottles and so maintain its status as an ecologically sensitive winemaking nation.

According to the industry's public relations organisation, Wines of South Africa, 750ml wine bottles closed with screwcaps and weighing only 350 grams will be available to local wine producers from this year. These compare with an average bottle weight of over 500 grams just four years ago.

"As we raise our export volumes of mostly bottled wines, we also increase our carbon emissions, so it becomes a delicate balancing act to enhance our sustainability profile while pushing up our output," explained Su Birch, Wines of South Africa (WOSA) chief executive.

"On the face of it, one solution might be to ship more of our wines in bulk directly to their export destinations for off-shore bottling. However, this poses a major problem in that many jobs would be lost during what must rank as the worst recession in current memory."

She said the wine industry body, SA Wine Industry Information Systems (SAWIS), had calculated that for every 10 million litres of wine shipped in bulk, just over 107 jobs would be lost.

"This figure does not even factor in the multiplier effect that such job losses bring."

The new 350 gram glass bottles for red and white wines are scheduled for launch by mid-April, in time for the 2010 harvest. At the same time, the average weight of bottles sealed with corks had been reduced in weight from 570 grams to 460 grams, she said.

- I-Net Bridge