Bottle Boxes   by Kevin Thomas

Bottle boxes need to give extra protection than a normal cardboard box due to the wine bottles being made of glass. Most wine is sold in Glass Bottles and are sealed using corks. An increasing number of wine producers have been using other closures such as screwcaps or plastic corks. In addition to being less expensive, alternative closures prevent cork taint, although they have been blamed for other problems such as excessive reduction.

Some wines are packaged in heavy plastic bags within cardboard boxes, and are called box wines. These wines are normally accessed via a tap on the side of the box. Box wine can maintain an acceptable degree of freshness for up to a month after opening, while bottled wine will more rapidly oxidize, and is considerably degraded within a few days.

The environmental considerations of wine packaging reveal benefits and drawbacks of both bottled and boxed wines. Glass used to make bottles has a good environmental reputation, as it is completely recyclable, whereas plastics used in box wines are considered to be much less environmentally friendly. However, wine bottle manufacturers have been cited for clean air act violations. A New York Times editorial puported that box wine, being lighter in package weight, has a reduced carbon footprint from its distribution. Boxed wine plastics, even though possibly recyclable, can be more labor-intensive and expensive to process than glass bottles. And while a wine box is recyclable, its plastic wine bladder most likely is not.

As late as the mid-1600s, French vintners did not use cork stoppers, using oil-soaked rags stuffed into the necks of bottles instead.

Natural cork closures are used for about 80% of the 20 billion bottles of wine produced each year. After a decline in use as wine-stoppers due to the increase in the use of cheaper synthetic alternatives, cork wine-stoppers are making a comeback and currently represent approximately 60% of wine-stoppers today.

Cork is a suitable material for use as a bottle stopper. Because of the cellular structure of cork, it is easily compressed upon insertion into a bottle and will expand to form a tight seal. The interior diameter of the neck of glass bottles tends to be inconsistent, making this ability to seal through variable contraction and expansion an important attribute. However, unavoidable natural flaws, channels, and cracks in the bark make the cork itself highly inconsistent. In a 2005 closure study 45% of corks showed gas leakage during pressure testing both from the sides of the cork as well as through the cork body itself.

Since the mid 1990s, a number of wine brands have switched to alternative wine closures such as synthetic plastic stoppers, screwcaps, or other closures. Screwcaps are often seen as a cheap alternative destined only for the low grade wines. These alternatives to real cork have their own properties, some advantageous and others controversial. For example, while screwtops are generally considered to offer a trichloroanisole (TCA) free seal they reduce the oxygen transfer rate to almost zero, which can lead to reductive qualities in the wine. TCA is one of the primary causes of cork taint in wine. However, in recent years major cork producers have developed methods that remove most TCA from natural wine corks. Natural cork stoppers are important because they allow oxygen to interact with wine for proper aging, and are best suited for bold red wines purchased with the intent to age.

The study “Analysis of the life cycle of Cork, Aluminum and Plastic Wine Closures,” commissioned by cork manufacturer Amorim and made public in December 2008, concluded that cork is the most environmentally responsible stopper, in a one-year life cycle analysis comparison with the plastic stoppers and aluminum screwcaps.

About the Author

Kevin Thomas works for Davpack, a UK packaging supplier. Their friendly staff are waiting to help you choose the right packaging for your business.

Text and content © Copyright of Davenport Paper Co. Ltd 2009
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