Victoria Moore

The creative new ways to get your wine

In 1867, archaeologists excavating a Roman tomb in Germany discovered what is thought to be the oldest unopened bottle of wine in the world. The ‘Speyer wine bottle’ dates to around 325AD and it is made of glass, a material that for the Romans was ‘present in nearly every aspect of daily life’, says Rosemarie Trentinella, writing for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, there was a very long gap until, in the 17th century, advances in manufacturing began to repopularise glass. Even then, until 1860 it was illegal to sell wine by the bottle in Britain – according to Robin Butler, writing in The Oxford Companion to Wine, this was to protect customers from being missold (hand-blown glass volumes varied); wine had to be measured, sold and then bottled.

In the 20th century, the glass wine bottle became ubiquitous, a part of the weekly shop. But is it now on the way back out, at least for wines sold for immediate drinking (ie, most of them)?

At the spring Aldi press tasting, about five per cent of the wines on show were in bottles that were not made out of glass and these were split between three types. The new Cambalala South African sauvignon blanc and shiraz (£7.99 apiece) are in so-called ‘paper’ bottles. These are actually 94 per cent recycled cardboard, with an inner pouch to contain the wine.

Two new Australian wines, the Chapter & Verse chardonnay and shiraz (both £5.25), are in ‘eco-flat’ plastic. Made out of recycled PET, eco-flats have a neck and shoulders and a body like a rectangular freezer pack. They’re no good outdoors, blowing over at the slightest gust of wind, or in an ice bucket (they float), but you could (if you wanted to) post them through a letterbox.

The third type of bottle was made of

PET in a classic shape, and looked like glass, although the external dimensions were smaller. This, the Chassaux et Fils Méditerranée Rosé 2023, France (12%, Aldi, £6.99), was the only one whose contents I’d be prepared to drink, although if you’re interested in the paper bottle, then go for the Cambalala Sauvignon Blanc 2023, South Africa (12.5%, Aldi, £7.99), which is just about acceptable (I’d take it on a picnic and mix it with elderflower cordial and sparkling water to make a spritz).

Driving the move away from glass is the sustainability agenda. Lighter paper and PET bottles burn less fuel when they are transported; eco-flats can be packed more efficiently which also saves on transport-related CO2 emissions. High glass prices and glass shortages are another commercial incentive.

Aldi is not the only outlet to be experimenting with this type of switch. Laithwaites and Ocado launched their first paper wine bottles two years ago. Last year, Waitrose announced that it would move small-serve wine bottles across to cans. And last summer The Wine Society launched an alternative packaging trial, offering members the chance to buy a handful of its ownlabel wines in bag-in-box or recycled PET flats. Take-up was higher than expected, with 79 per cent saying that they were satisfied with their glass-free purchases and more than 90 per cent that they’d probably repurchase. The Wine Society is planning more as a result. Watch this space.

Until 1860 it was illegal to sell wine by the bottle – to protect customers from being missold