New Wine in ... Uh, Juice Boxes
JOEL STEIN / Time Magazine
30aug2007
|
Mindfully.org
note:
These plastic bottles have absolutely nothing to do with being
"green" other than the synthetic colors added to them.
Joel at Time Magazine may have no problem with wine in plastic juice
boxes. But we highly recommend that you stay away from these whenever and
where ever you can avoid them. Tel your friends not to buy them too.
All plastic migrates toxins into whatever touches it all the
time. This is not questioned or doubted by the plastics industry. But they
will tell you that the chemicals migrate at or below government
regulations, which might even be true. But those regulations were written
by the plastics industry and in no way, shape or form are protective of
your health.
The bottlers and the manufacturers of the plastic bottles will sell them
as environmentally sound or "green." But these plastic bottles
have absolutely nothing to do with green other than the synthetic colors
added to them.
Here's
an article about a different plastic, but the same basic
principals apply to polyethylene and any other plastic else they use for
containers. More on polyethylene
or PET. |
Back when wine was an elitist beverage, those dusty bottles labeled with
geographic descriptors and family emblems made sense. But the rigmarole we go
through in order to wash down our KFC with some pinot grigio makes about as much
sense as decanting a Red Bull. So winemakers are now putting their goods in
juice boxes, aluminum cans like Sofia Coppola's super-hip champagne, which comes
with a straw, and--in the latest packaging innovation--plastic bottles. By Mardi
Gras, someone will undoubtedly be selling an oenophile's version of those
drinking helmets with dual bottle holders and straws that lead to your mouth.
Wine sold in the same type of plastic bottles that Aquafina uses to hold tap
water is about to hit U.S. consumers, thanks to Bob Peter, a man who buys a lot
of wine. Not a lot of wine like your alcoholic uncle buys a lot of wine or even
like your local wine store buys a lot of wine. As CEO of the Liquor Control
Board of Ontario, Peter buys wine for 12.7 million Canadians, since all the wine
in that province has to be sold in government-run stores. So when he merely
suggested in 2005 that wine companies find more environmentally friendly
packaging, innovations happened fast.
The latest is Yellow Jersey, launched in May by big French Burgundy producer
Boisset, which will be distributed only in dark-colored plastic bottles--a lot
lighter than glass ones and therefore requiring less fossil fuel to transport.
And Ontarians aren't the only ones ditching the glass bottle. A lot of this
innovation comes from eco-forward Australians and New Zealanders, the same
people who were early adopters of plastic corks and screw-top caps. More than
half the wine in Australia is sold in boxes, although that country has yet to
catch up to Chile, where more than 50% of wine--basically, anything that costs
less than $25--is sold in juice box--style containers.
But success elsewhere in the world has not made wine companies confident
about bringing alternative packaging to the U.S. Boisset started selling its
French Rabbit in plastic boxes last year, and is still waiting for it to catch
on. Even the businessman behind the wildly successful $2 Charles Shaw wines is
wary. Despite the fact that the bottle is the most expensive component of the
super-cheapo wine sold exclusively at crunchy consumer haven Trader Joe's, Two
Buck Chuck maker Fred Franzia says he'd never abandon the romance of glass and
cork.
Still, countries that are far stodgier about wine than the U.S. are starting
to change. The English have bought wine in plastic packs for years. Even some
vintners in France, whose wine industry has been in trouble because of worldwide
competition and overproduction, are experimenting with alternatives to glass.
Jean-Charles Boisset, whose family business is a market leader, likens wine
drinkers and their adaptability to the consumers of another once upscale
product. "You squeeze mustard from a plastic bottle, when you traditionally
got it from a glass bottle," he says matter-of-factly.
I drank Boisset's wines, and the Yellow Jersey sauvignon blanc, at $15,
wasn't bad. In fact, I felt, oddly, snobbishly worldly pouring it from a plastic
bottle. It was as if I were saying, I drink so much wine that I don't have to
pretend that this slightly flat grapefruit explosion I'm going to down with
leftovers is special. Plus, I tend to drop things a lot when I drink.
source:
12sep2007