BULK OR BOTTLED? ONE OF THE THORNIEST ISSUES IS BACK ON THE TABLE IN BRITAIN: WINE TRADERS BOTTLING BULK WINE (AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND) DIRECTLY IN THE UK AND REDUCING COSTS, BUT NOT FOR THE PREMIUM WINE SECTOR

One of the trickiest issues concerning wine and especially the wine trade is back on the table in Britain. Is it better to import wine in bulk and bottle it on British soil or import already bottled wine? On the one hand, bottling in the UK reduces costs, is more sustainable, quality control is safer and there is a faster response to market fluctuations; on the other, supporting the wine industry from growing grapes to bottling the wine means financially supporting local communities and their industry, maintaining not only jobs, but also the very meaning of tradition.
Until 15 years ago, as the UK portal "Harpers" (www.harpers.co.uk) recalled, bottling on British soil was reserved almost exclusively for poor quality wines that had little personality and even less charm, often disdained by wine lovers.
But today things are different; according to Kingsland Drinks estimates, more than 50% of the wine sold in the UK is bottled in the UK, and the percentage is growing. For instance, 85% of all wine imported from Australia is bulk and worldwide shipments of bulk wine from Australia is 57%, compared to 18% just 10 years ago. To get a better idea, the main wine supplier to the United Kingdom is Accolade Wines that sells 180 million liters each year and owns Hardys brand, which boasts a range from entry level to premium wines, of which 90% is bottled at Accolade Park, the superhub created in Bristol in 2009, capable of filling 600.000 bottles a day.
There are many other companies besides Accolade, like the Lanchester Group and Kingsland Drinks that are betting heavily on bottling bulk wine, especially from Australia and New Zealand.
They have major projects in sight, like bottling sparkling wines, knowing that prices will be dramatically reduced, since 24.000 liters of wine in a flexitank take up half of the space of bottles. Concha y Toro, with its brands Isla Negra, Trivento and Viña Maipo, bottles 30% of its sales on British soil, but the flagship Casillero del Diablo is bottled in Chile. Even though it is a convenient choice, wine is something that goes beyond a mere commercial commodity. Its main components are the relationship with the soil and tradition, which is still linked to the production of every top tier wine in the world, and the quality, which certainly would not be the same if transported in flexitanks.