Fruit for thought: reducing the carbon footprint of wine one step at a time

Though a glass of wine may have health benefits according to reports from various doctors and writers, getting the wine to your glass leaves a lasting carbon footprint on the earth – several, actually. This is because of the distance between the producing vineyards on the West Coast of America and the majority of thirsty consumers living east of the Mississippi. According to Tyler Colman, who teaches classes on wine at New York University and the University of Chicago, trucks transporting wine release greenhouse gasses more harmful than the fertilizers and the fermentation processes used when producing wine.

On the upside, alternative packaging is coming into play at vineyards. Box wines, once having a negative connotation of cheap wine associated with them, now are receiving more glances from consumers. The benefits to box wines, such as the Bota Box, are numerous. The 100% recyclable box, often made out of recycled materials, means no glass bottles are used. Because of specially designed pour spouts and bags within the box that keep light and oxygen away from the wine, the wine stays fresh for a month. Finally, the boxes typically contain the equivalent of four bottles of wine and are similar in size compared to a small cereal box. Now, alternative packaging doesn’t solve the issue of eliminating greenhouse gases omitted in transporting wine, but it does help to reduce the amount of trucks needed to ship the wine and lightens the load on the trucks.

Reducing the carbon footprint by a few steps, some winemakers such as Willamette Valley Vineyards, out of Oregon, are focused on sustainable practices in winemaking. Willamette is very unique in the wine world and, unlike many competitors in the industry, the winery hasn’t been bought out by a conglomerate corporation. The winery has remained small in overall size, and sits alone as a publicly traded vintner. Willamette is therefore susceptible to global market forces and yet remains true to sustainable practices, in all phases of the business. Employees are offered a limited quantity of bio-fuel at no additional charge per month, the winemaking process has been certified by LIVE, and the business is striving to become carbon free by 2010.

Maybe someday we will talk about green wines – wines that have been produced by sustainable practices and travel to our glasses with very limited carbon footprints. Unfortunately, in the business world where wine is produced, green efforts and sustainable business practices cost money and often reduce profits. For wine consumers, the nostalgia of popping a cork out of the glass bottle is a hard habit to break. But, here’s the fruit for thought; the carbon footprint of wine can be reduced if we all drink responsibly, with the environment in mind.