Wine
The case for lighter wines
Jo Austin talks to Andrew Brown of Ratcliffe and Brown Wines about the wine industry’s response to the demand for a lower carbon footprint in the air
OBH: How can a wine supplier contribute practically to the ideals of modern efficiency and lightweight in the air? AB: For the past two hundred years or so, glass bottles have been the accepted container for wines and there is no doubt that glass is very suited to a hotel or restaurant environment. However, it is far from ideal from a modern airline’s operational viewpoint. It is incredibly heavy, takes up a lot of space and can easily break. As a specialist in supplying wines to airlines we took on this challenge several years ago with our winery partner, Paul Sapin, and today we are acknowledged leaders in developing the way that wine is packaged and presented onboard.
What are the weight and space savings? By changing from glass bottles to multi layer PET bottles some of our airline customers are already saving up to 45% of the weight usually involved in flying wine and gaining up to 20% extra space in the bar cart. A simple equation for an airline to consider is this:- A typical nine litre case of wine in glass bottles weighs approximately 21Kgs. A comparable nine litre case of the same wine but bottled in lightweight PET bottles weighs only 11Kgs. Also, due to the reduced wall thickness of the PET bottles, they take up 20% less space. Multiply those figures by the number of cases of wine an airline buys in a year and you will see the extent of the potential weight and space savings that can be made.
What has been the reaction of passengers and crew to PET bottles? Research and experience in service have shown that their acceptance is extremely positive. PET bottles have many advantages. They look like
From left: Joint managing directors, David Ratcliffe and Andrew Brown enjoy a glass of Fendant Blanc at Geneva Airport.
still has to be cutaway and separated from the bottle. So we and Paul Sapin have developed a compatible plastic screw cap which maintains the appearance and image of quality associated with good wines, whilst allowing the entire PET bottle/ cap combination to be recycled together. We reached the breakthrough this year and
“PET bottles are already saving our airline customers up to 45 per cent in weight and up to 20 per cent in space.”
have launched a range of fashionable, quality wines from around the world, bottled in light-weight, virtually unbreakable PET wine bottles, complete with recyclable, pilfer apparent HDPE screw caps. This combination is available in a range of sizes from 187ml quarter bottles to 75cl and 1 litre bottles.
glass but are incredibly strong, ultra lightweight and are fully recyclable. They are completely inert and within the limits of their shelf-life (now up to two years from bottling), they have a performance comparable with glass and do not affect the quality of the wines they contain in any way.
What other green elements does the PET bottle bring? The development of the bottle is not the whole story. A PET bottle with an aluminium screw cap is not that easily recyclable, as the aluminium cap
Does this apply to all your wines? Yes, we are able to offer a choice of wines in this attractive purpose-designed packaging encompassing all the most popular varietals in Vin de Pays and AC equivalent quality France, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Chile and New Zealand. As David Ratcliffe says, “I
think it is fair to say that if glass bottles had just been discovered and were being promoted as the new packaging for airline wines – they would never get off the ground!”
www.chateaux.com
www.onboardhospitality.com 57
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76