Australia's first lightweight bottle for Sparkling Wine

A new sustainable wine bottle developed in South Australia is set to reduce hundreds of tonnes in packaging every year.

Endeavour Group’s wine bottling and packaging arm Vinpac International has partnered with Australian glass packaging company Orora on a new lightweight 750ml sparkling bottle in an Australian first.

The bottle weighs 580g, 100 grams less than a standard sparkling wine bottle and was manufactured at Orora’s state-of-the-art facility in Gawler, South Australia, before being tested at Vinpac’s facilities in Angaston earlier this year.

Importantly, the bottle looks and feels the same as a standard 750ml sparkling bottle so there is no need to change labelling or other packaging elements.

Vinpac International’s Commercial Manager, James Vallance said, “To have an Australian-made innovative sustainable packaging option for our customers is important to us. By collaborating with Orora to produce a lighter weight sparkling bottle solution that will provide a combination of commercial and environmental benefits for our customers is really exciting.”

Red, White and Rosé wine bottles have been available in lightweight options in Australia for some time and up until now, Sparkling Wine has been bottled in heavier, more premium packaging. Glass is a heavy component in packaging waste for retailers and it adds weight to the transportation of goods. This glass-making technology allows for significant savings as well as environmental benefits in the form of reduced energy requirements for manufacture and transport.

Supplier arm of Endeavour Group, Pinnacle Drinks, is releasing a number of its brands in the lightweight sparkling bottle, including the 2021 vintage of the Minchinbury sparkling range.

“To have the Minchinbury sparkling range first to market is really exciting as it is a trusted brand. Australians have marked special occasions and celebrations with a bottle of Minchinbury for over a century and to see the brand now move into a more sustainable packaging option is an exciting new chapter,” said Pinnacle Drinks Assistant Brand Manager, Nicola Demetriou.

Pinnacle Drinks estimates the new bottle across its sparkling products will remove 320 tonnes of packaging from its supply chain which equates to around 62 cars off the road each year.