Weinhof 519 Winery Selects Petainer Plastic Wine Bottles for Safe and Sustainable Shipping

Weinhof 519, based in the Rheingau, is a 3rd generation winery specializing in Riesling. The winery is forward thinking, utilizing modern technology to press and ferment their grapes to fulfill their exacting standards. They are present in the Finnish market with their ever-popular PINK Riesling brand. To provide an additional climate smart option, Weinhof 519 tendered for the opportunity to place a new Riesling on the market in a 750ml PET format. Their successful tender means customers in Finland will be able to purchase a new and refreshing Weinhof 519 Riesling through the Finnish alcohol monopoly Alko.

Working together, the monopolies of the Nordics have put in place methods to reduce their collective carbon footprint by 50% by 2030. Packaging constitutes a large portion of their emissions, and, therefore, they have made climate smart packaging a key pillar in their plan. Whilst glass has predominantly been the most common packaging type for wine, it suffers from its weight factor and energy intensive manufacture. A glass bottle can account for up to half of the emissions of a bottle of wine when considering all processes on the vineyard and packaging. Credible alternatives for wine in glass are sought to reduce the climate impact.

Alko marks products with a Green Choice symbol if the product is classed as having ‘Environmentally Responsible Packaging’. Packaging that weighs less than 420g is classed as having lower emissions, as it is more efficient to transport. At 49g Petainer’s bottle is significantly lighter than even the lightest glass equivalent. The impact of switching to PET vs glass on carbon emissions is 2.7x less emissions per litre versus a standard glass bottle and 2.14x versus a light weighted glass bottle (Alko Figures). Weinhof 519’s work in the vineyard towards sustainable viticulture further ensures the most sustainable product will reach their new customer.

Weinhof 519 transported their wine to EB Secco, a specialist co packer in Frankfurt, Germany. EB Secco has bottling lines that can be adapted for filling PET wine bottles and make the process simple and efficient for wineries. Weinhof 519, which uses a flute-style bottle, picked Petainer’s PET Burgundy bottle to maintain their brand style. Offering customers the same shopping experience and a climate smart packaging option that serves the same volume of product as the traditional type makes it an easy switch.

It’s exciting to be a part of the Finnish efforts towards expanded sustainable options for Alko customers. Petainer has been fantastic in its support, making sure we had the bottle style similar to our usual glass bottles. We hope the Finnish wine lovers will enjoy this new product.