Going green - it's in the bag!

Mar 27 2008 By Laurence Mccoy

ALBANIAN shepherds and picnic enthusiasts will be very glad that bags of wine may well be losing their "plonk" image.

Nothing really to do with what's in the bag, but more to do with the ubiquitous "green" factor - it seems that pouches, bags, PET plastic bottles and Tetra Pak cartons all have a smaller carbon footprint than bottles.

It could be some while yet before you are sitting in a smart restaurant and the waiter asks: "Another squirt of wine with your foie gras madame?" But there's no doubt these modern packaging methods come into their own in the fridge door, or al fresco, or for a refreshing glug while herding the sheep in the mountains of Greece - those wineskins are so last year!

In any case, there is absolutely no reason why the wine inside should not be as fresh, if not even fresher, than in bottles. After all it is thought that anything from three to ten per cent of wines sealed with cork fall victim to the dreaded TCA (trichloroanisole, or the cork taint that destoys the fruit and leaves that musty smell of old dishcloths).

Arniston Bay pouches, two bottles-worth of white or rose, priced at £9.49, are some of the latest to hit the UK, and they are tantalisingly convenient. The company claims the carbon footprint is 80 per cent smaller because the lightweight packs use less energy to produce and transport.

Banrock Station Ecomate, onelitre Tetra Pak cartons (£6.49), are available in Tesco, and are the same popular Shiraz and Chardonnay already available in bottles.

The Ecomate is recyclable and because it is lightweight, is more energy efficient to produce and transport than traditional glassbottles. Around 77 per cent of the carton is derived from renewable resources.

Tesco also aims to provide around 100 carton collection banks at stores this year.

Sainsbury already sells a couple of wines in PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles and is looking to use them more. They can easily be isolated in the recycling chain and used to manufacture polar fleece and polyester products.

Chateau Lafite in a plastic bottle, anyone?