The “weight” of a wine’s container is a factor in choosing wine. Looking at quality and sustainability

The path to follow in the “Call to Action” dedicated to wine packaging promoted by Slow Food and the Slow Wine Coalition, which was the main theme of the 4th edition of Slow Wine Fair 2025, at BolognaFiere, is to move from extracting raw materials to circularity, choose natural, biodegradable and recyclable materials, educate consumers, involve colleagues and promote change. It is the “lighthouse” in a new era of “good, clean and fair wine”, which is in a delicate phase in world production. Sustainability appears more and more crucial, not only for the environment, but to bring the product closer to the eyes of the new generations, who are especially sensitive to green issues. The theme supporting the campaign that Slow Wine launched, inviting all the players in the supply chain to promote the use of lighter bottles to reduce the environmental impact of wine transportation, was also discussed by buyers and wine importers at the meeting,“Leggera è meglio: elogio della bottiglia consapevolezza” (lighter is better: praising the bottle of awareness). The discussions were moderated by Roberto Fiori, journalist of “La Stampa” and “Il Gusto”, to whom the participants, Stephanie Guth, portfolio manager of The Living Wine, importer of organic, natural and biodynamic wine in Canada, Gianpaolo Giacobbo, commercial director of Arkè, a company that has been dealing with the distribution of natural wines for years, Antonio Prati, buyer director of Tannico, one of the main online wine stores, and Iacopo Di Teodoro, importer who works in the United States, partner of Artisanal Cellars and Lucidity Wine Merchant, analyzed whether when choosing a wine, other factors besides wine itself are decisive, such as packaging, the weight of the bottles, and the distance the wines travel from the winery to the restaurant table. These factors concern all markets to a certain extent, each with its own features. The importance of the weight of the bottle, which must be lighter, has been acknowledged and everyone is aware (it is estimated that glass impacts from 30% to 70% of the carbon footprint of the wine supply chain). The journey to reduce the weight has begun, but many stages must still be faced in order to reach the goal. The market and consumers have given the first responses, signals that must be interpreted in light of the generational change. “In Canada”, Stephanie Guth explained, “there is no low-cost wine for consumers, there is no bottle in the supermarket that costs 5 euros like in Italy. There are many reasons for this, such as a monopoly, or the consumer wants to spend little on wine and have beautiful packaging, but the difficult economic situation has meant that there are very few varieties to choose from. People are sensitive to “green washing”, and we must help the consumer. There is a program for lighter bottles, 420 grams, which allows a weight savings of 6 million kilograms per year. I see a growing success, in spite of the fact it is a small market, of canned wines, suitable for ready-to-drink products. People are drinking less, this is the new trend, so at the restaurant they ask for glasses of wine, not bottles, while a 200 ml can is convenient to take to the park”.
Gianpaolo Giacobbo, said, “we cannot yet speak of a market that is aware, and we must not think of a “claim”, but of something that is an objective for the future. I think that it is good to talk about the container, but above all we need to talk about the content. The good news is that we have a new, aware generation. The bad news is that the old one is not freeing up space and lacks visionary ideas, when instead, we need to dream. We have put social sustainability at the center; for instance, we have asked for lighter bottles. We must be careful not to fall into the trap of "green washing", but instead our role must be as guarantors. I prefer to talk about value even on the price. For the future, we need to push the awareness that wine must be authentic. And a minimum of reduction in production can prove to be very important”.
Iacopo Di Teodoro emphasized that “it is not the weight of the bottle that will make a wine more important. If Champagne is looking at using lighter bottles, then everyone can do it. Maybe on the label it might be useful to declare the weight of the bottle, as a new communication tool. The American consumer is further behind because there has never been accurate communication on the packaging. Among other things, regarding the container, in the US you cannot drink on the street, and there has been a certain increase in purchases of cans, especially in summer, to take to the beach”.
Antonio Prati said, “online is the place where everyone goes to get information, and our average customers are regularly informed. Over the last five years, there has been an evolution in bottle packaging, even among the big names. The weight, the material of the bottles and logistics are the aspects we take into consideration, and, for us, who also look at the last mile, if the bottle is lighter it is more convenient. But the most important thing, I believe, is that this issue must be transversal from the vineyard to delivery”.