Rising raw material and energy costs due to the war in Ukraine, closure of glassworks, increased global demand for glass bottles: winegrowers face an unprecedented crisis.
Yet alternatives exist: recent ones like the aluminium can or the Bag in Box (BiB), a packaging made up of a cardboard box and a bag with a dosing tap, or older ones like the deposit bottle, a French concept abandoned in the 1980s for industrial reasons. Granted, most glass packaging is recycled, but this is an energy-intensive solution that consumes a great deal of water.
Here in Pego we practise the hummingbird policy, we are the change: wine list (natural) from the region, local commerce in favour of proximity, and even before this glass crisis, we were already collecting ancestral bottles back, which are twice as heavy as a standard wine bottle. As you can understand, this is not enough, and we are already looking into other responsible actions with our winegrowers, but without a shift in consumer mentality, it will be difficult to move things forward. No, a glass bottle and a cork stopper are not synonymous with quality for a wine.
Social media dissipates our frustrations, but real life obliges us to make a formal commitment. What kind of person do you want to be?