California winemakers embrace sustainable bottles made from recycled cardboard
With great soil, foggy mornings, and cool afternoon winds, Monterey County is the perfect place to grow quality wine grapes.
From Arroyo Seco to Carmel Valley, hundreds of local vineyards use environmentally friendly methods to produce exceptional vintages.
CBS News Bay Area spoke to winemaker Nicole Walsh who honed her craft at Bonny Doon Vineyard, which is now owned by WarRoom Cellars.
"Bonny Doon has always been a pioneer, really pushing the boundaries of sustainability and farming practices, whether that's organic, biodynamic," explained Walsh.
We also spoke to Heidi Scheid, who is the executive vice president of Scheid Family Wines.
"Sustainability has been one of our core values since our family founded this business in 1972. We've always just believed very heavily that you need to treat your vineyards well, your land well," remarked Scheid.
Now, winemakers have a greener way to package their wine. It's a device created by Frugalpac, a sustainable packaging company located in the United Kingdom. It was recently awarded the King's Award for Enterprise for Innovation from King Charles III.
"We describe them as a wonderful, sustainable option in the wine packaging world," said Shannon Valladarez, general manager of Monterey Wine Company. The family-owned wine broker and distributor is the only place in the United States that has a Frugalpac machine.
"I thought this was a brilliant concept and was really excited about it," Valladarez said.
Valladerez and her team spent about a year and a half looking into the technology. She talked to clients, met with retailers, and got positive feedback.
"They were basically saying this is what we want on our shelves. And after all that hard work, and due diligence, we knew this was the right thing for the Monterey Wine Company," she said.
The paper bottles are made from 94% recycled cardboard and has a carbon footprint 84% lower than a glass bottle.
Reports show how making glass bottles in conventional furnaces, and then transporting them by freight or plane requires a lot of fossil fuel, which in turn emits a lot of carbon into the environment.
"When you think about the weight of traditional wine bottles and that glass and what goes into making the glass, blowing the glass, transporting the glass, there's a huge carbon footprint there," remarked Walsh.
"We sell to 30 countries internationally. And so having a lighter weight bottle and one that has less environmental impact is great from start to finish," added Scheid.
"That's pretty, pretty substantial," said Walsh.
Bottling starts with flat cardboard, covered in art. A plastic insert will hold the wine.
The device then pinches, folds, and molds the paper into a bottle. It can make up to 500 bottles an hour.
At Monterey Wine Company, the bottles are made, and then brought to an adjacent room, where they are filled and boxed.
"The bottle is so light oftentimes when consumers pick it up, they feel as if it's an empty bottle," noted Valladarez.
The winemakers are raising a glass.
"It really speaks to what's going on with our planet right now. We're all very much aware of climate change and the impact it is having on everyone's lives," said Walsh.
"I hope that it something that a customer walking thru the shopping aisle is going to be intrigued enough to pick it up, notice it is substantially light and say 'this is pretty cool, I care about the environment and I'm going to give it a try, " added Scheid.
The first U.S. winery to launch a Frugal Bottle was Bonny Doon, when it released it's "Carbon-nay" wine at Whole Foods Markets.
Customers can now find the "Collective Good" collection in Target stores across the nation. Target is the first major retailer to commission a line of sustainable wines in the low carbon bottles.
There are four wines, including a Cabernet Sauvignon from Scheid Family Farms. The hope: that these low carbon bottles are uncorking a better future for tomorrow.
