Category: International

 By: Tod Stewart

Bonnie and Clyde. Jekyll and Hyde. Bread and butter. Salt and pepper. Some things are so synonymous with something else that it’s almost impossible to mention one without the other. In the oenophilic world, it’s hard to mention Argentina without mentioning (or at least thinking about) malbec.

  Personally, I can’t think of any other country whose vinous history is so inexorably linked to a single grape variety. (Okay, New Zealand and sauvignon blanc; I’ll give you that.) So important is malbec to Argentina’s wine industry that it accounts for almost 40 percent of all Argentine wine sold. And each year, April 17 is celebrated as Malbec World Day, a global initiative created by Wines Of Argentina (the organization responsible for, among other things, promoting the country’s wines) that seeks to position Argentine malbec as one of the most prominent varieties in the world. 

  First introduced in the mid-19th century, malbec vineyards in Argentina continue to expand, with close to 110,000 acres in the ground today.

When I visited Argentina a few years ago, I got a first-hand look at what progressive winemakers were doing in terms of technological improvements, vineyard site selection and viticultural and vinicultural practices. In other words, serious winemaking practices by dedicated, quality-oriented vintners. It wasn’t always like this.

“Until the late 1980s, Argentina was probably the worst wine producing country in the world,” admitted California vintner Paul Hobbs during an interview (and being careful not to mince words).” Having established a number of successful partnerships in California, Hobbs set out to prove to himself and the rest of the world that, when treated with respect, Argentine malbec could yield wines as good (and in the case of those from his Argentinian venture Viña Cabos, often better) than the best any country has to offer. The reason for the poor quality was simple: nobody really wanted to make anything better.

“Wine was strictly for consuming, not selling in bottle,” Hobbs maintained, “and for the most part it was all oxidized. There was really no concept of how to make good wine.”

  Thanks in large part to the pioneering efforts of local winemaker Nicolás Catena, whose epiphany came while in Napa Valley (and who took inspiration from Robert Mondavi’s contribution to the wine scene there), the scene began to change. Hobbs experienced a similar epiphany on a road trip from Santiago, Chile, to Mendoza, Argentina, at about the same time that Argentina’s winemakers were starting to get serious.

  “I saw what was possible,” he recounted. “There was a strong culture of wine, but a lack of practical knowledge. The vineyards were poorly farmed. The vines, especially for malbec, were over-irrigated, and in an effort to mitigate the threat of hail, trained far too low to the ground.”

  However, he saw a strong work ethic in the people and the potential in the land to support a world-class wine industry. “What I saw,” he says, “was an unpainted canvas.” Transforming this canvas into a vinous Rembrandt has been, essentially, what Hobbs has been able to do.

  While controlling yields and bringing more modern winemaking equipment and techniques to bear has certainly led to the continuing improvement in the overall quality of Argentina’s wines, perhaps the most significant factor behind the positive developments in the country’s wine industry hasn’t been so much about how to treat the fruit, but rather, where to plant the fruit. And as winemakers began to explore grape varieties beyond malbec, it has become apparent that they behave quite differently depending on where they are planted.

  “In our case [site selection] is the most important thing,” admitted Germán di Césare, winemaker at Bodega Trivento. “The vineyard selection is critical because it is where the whole process begins. Each site provides different characteristics to the wine, so we plant according to the wine we want to produce.”

  I also asked Gonzalo Bertelsen, general manager and chief winemaker at Mendoza’s Finca el Origen, who elaborated further:

  “Every vineyard suits a particular vine and wine,” he told me. “And even within the same vineyard, we see big differences in how the vines behave depending on weather, grape variety, soil, rootstock, irrigation, canopy management, hang time, and so on.” He notes that merlot wines made from fruit grown in the eastern part of Mendoza are typically very different than those sourced from the region’s western part, which is 600 meters higher.”

  In fact, elevation has turned out to be one of the most critical considerations in the critical process of vineyard location. The vines for Hobbs Viña Cobos wines are planted in numerous high-elevation vineyards throughout the Uco Valley and the department of Luján de Cuyo. The soils in these vineyards tend to be poor in organic material and blessed with deep layers of rock and mineral, as well as good drainage, resulting in fruit with concentration, structure and complexity.

  “High-altitude vineyards provide a wide temperature range,” Di Césare confirmed, going on to explain that “low temperatures at night and higher temperatures during the day make for perfect conditions for the harvesting of perfectly ripened fruit.” 

  As alluded to a few paragraphs back, malbec might be the preferred weapon in most Argentinian winemakers’ arsenal. Still, plenty of other red and white varieties are being used with generally favorable results.

  “We are sure that we can show there is much more Argentina can offer than just malbec,” Julián Iñarra Iraegui, commercial director for Proemio wines, told me. “The region we are in, Maipú, from my understanding, is the best region for growing cabernet sauvignon. We also make wines from petit verdot, syrah, grenache and cabernet franc.” Iraegui said that Proemio is looking to “deconstruct and reconstruct” classic French blends to craft wines that are both single varietal expressions and blends featuring those same grapes. He stated the winery’s style is “more French.”

  “We avoid over-extraction and the heavy use of oak,” he said. “We import our barrels from France, and we are also using some barrels that are made from tree branches rather than trunks. We are the first winery to use these in Argentina.”

  Tasting through a range of Proemio wines with Iraegui, I was impressed by the complexity, poise 

and refinement of the wines crafted by French-thinking (though of Italian descent) Marcelo Bocardo. “Marcelo loves blends,” Iraegui revealed when asked whether malbec might be better as part of a blend than as a single varietal.

  Though the winery makes a couple of 100 percent malbec wines, Iraegui said that the winery “loves cabernets.”

  Indeed, the Proemio cabernet sauvignon “Reserve” 2016, with its aromas of tobacco, black currant, mint, pepper and dark plum, more than adequately showed the potential of this grape variety. Juicy and dense, it was nonetheless perfectly balanced and elegant, with a hint of spice intermingling with the chewy cassis fruit.

  Just as Argentina isn’t solely about malbec, it’s also not strictly about vino tinto. Most of the main international white varietals (chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, viognier, semillon, chenin blanc and muscat) have taken root in the country’s soil. But the most interesting white variety is something unique to Argentina.

  A cross between the Listán Prieto and Muscat of Alexandria varieties, Torrontés (or more precisely, Torrontés Riojano (there are three variations of the grape), gives white wines with intense aromatics and lively flavors (very much like a dry muscat…not surprisingly).

  “Torrontés is a magnificent variety, with a high oenological value and [versatility] to obtain different wine types,” Susana Balbo of the Eponymous Winery explained to me. “In our case, we produce low-alcohol wines, natural sweet wines, dry wines, barrel fermented wines and late harvest wines from Torrontés grapes. Due to its great aromatic richness and its adaptability to diverse types of climate, Torrontés provides an interesting range of aromas that makes each wine unique.”

  I’m not sure if the situation is different in the United States, but in Canada, the wines of Argentina have generally been relegated to the “cheap and cheerful” category, which isn’t really fair and certainly doesn’t allow consumers to experience what the country really has to offer, wine-wise. Sure, you can get perfectly acceptable wines for under $20 (that’s CDN, so apply the current conversion factor for USD). But I highly recommend springing for something a bit more upmarket. You’ll likely find that the flavor profile will increase dramatically even though the price will still be below that of wines from more recognized countries and regions.

By: Tod Stewart

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! Readers of a certain vintage may recall the pandemonium at the local wine purveyor upon the unleashing of that phrase. It was the official annual call for wine lovers to storm the shelves and grab as many bottles (or cases) of the year’s first ferment.

Beaujolais nouveau was never (and still isn’t) a particularly great wine, but then again, it wasn’t meant to be. The wine itself was simply “a means to an event,” for lack of a better way to state it. Originally meant to celebrate the vintage and slake the thirst of the French workers who’d been toiling in the vineyards, Beaujolais nouveau morphed into an international phenomenon, spawning a plethora of fun, fruity, fast-fermented wines around the globe – and also spawning global parties.

A major bonus of the nouveau craze, insofar as the region’s winemakers were concerned, was the spreading of the word Beaujolais far and wide. The downside may have been that all Beaujolais started to become lumped together in the minds of consumers, leading to the incorrect assumption that, in spite of the wine’s (subtle) diversity, it was all fun, fruity, light, and inconsequential.

“I would agree on the fun and fruity description. Light not so sure,” contends Phillippe Marx, Commercial Director for Vinescence, a 350-producer-strong cooperative established in 1929. With growers spread over 2,970 acres across the region, Vinescence is able to offer selections from every Beaujolais category. 

  “With the recent climate evolution, we have wines with 13 per cent alcohol that I would not describe as light,” he suggests [Indeed, I recently had one that was 14 per cent]. “If you are speaking about the structure, yes, we have less structure and body than wines made from Cabernet or Zinfandel, but what we do have is elegance -– something that a larger share of the consumers are looking for.”

  The profile of Beaujolais wines as being “elegant” rather than “opulent” stems from a couple factors. The first is the grape variety used. The second has to do with what’s done with it.

  The Gamay grape (Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc if you want to be precise) is the Beaujolais grape. Sure, there are plantings in other parts of France (notably the Loire Valley), and in pockets scattered around the globe (it does quite well in Ontario’s Niagara region), but in no other region is it as dominant as in Beaujolais. In fact, about 98 per cent of all vines planted in the region are Gamay. Thin-skinned, early-ripening, and moderately vigorous, Gamay more often than not yields red wines relatively high in acid, low in tannin, and eminently fruity -– both on the nose and in the mouth. The grape’s qualities are enhanced via a semi-carbontic fermentation process, where whole grape clusters (including stems) are, in the words of Jancis Robinson, MW, “…fermented whole, fast and relatively warm, with some pumping over and a high proportion of added press wine….” This can last for as little as three days (in the case of nouveau) and up to 16 for the more top-level cru Beaujolais.

  “The typical carbonic maceration of full grapes enables us to express all the aromatic potential of the Gamay grape,” Marx confirms. “In the last decade, we rediscovered the possibilities offered by using oak and some longer maceration time. For some of our crus like Morgon and Moulin à Vent, or some single vineyard wines, we are also working in a more Burgundian style of vinification, with destemming and longer skin contact. This adds more structure to the wine, and with soft oak aging, enables us to smooth the tannins and reveal the full depth of the wine. This approach enables us to take advantage of the versatility of Gamay, and give [it] the chance to show all [its] potential, from the soft juicy Chiroubles, to the earthy Côte de Brouilly, and the soft bodied Morgon,” he explains.

  Of course, the supple, easy-drinking nature of Beaujolais wines might have the Napa Cab crowd dismissing them as less than “serious.” Marx responds to such criticism in a way that leaves me nodding (rather enthusiastically) in agreement. “Regarding serious; who said wine has to be serious? Wine is about sharing pleasure and good vibes. Serious is such an old way of approaching wine; a time when it was reserved for serious [air quotes] people. Beaujolais is a wine that speaks to all consumers – young and old – who are looking just to enjoy a nice glass, or discover the complexity that a mature Gamay wine can offer.”

  Delving a bit more deeply into what differentiates the styles of various Beaujolais wines -– from Beaujolais, to Beaujolais-Villages, to the ten crus de Beaujolais -– Marx notes that a winemaker aims for different outcomes depending on the pedigree of the wine being produced.

  “We at Vinescence have the chance to produce all the wines from Beaujolais, from Beaujolais Nouveau to each of the single crus. When producing Beaujolais and Beaujolais Villages, you are trying to extract something different than when you produce, for example, a single vineyard Morgon. For the first ones, you look to keep the fruit, and the freshness. For the other one you are trying to have more extraction and reveal all the potential. This potential is the combination of the soil, the exposure, the altitude. So yes, nature gives you a different potential, and with your specific vinification style, you try to express the best of this potential. For instance, we age some of our crus in oak barrels to underline the structure … we decided that this is not an option for our Beaujolais Villages. This is not what we are looking for in a villages-level wine. In Beaujolais we are fortunate to have a whole spectrum of different profiles due to that combination of natural elements – our role is to express them in the best possible way.”

  Speaking of different profiles, there’s also been increased interest in Beaujolais Rosé and especially Beaujolais Blanc.

  Beaujolais Rosé remains, in my opinion a niche market. We are not competitive on prices because of our limited yield,” admits Cathy Lathuiliere, Export & Winemaking for Domaine de Lathuiliere-Gravallon, an estate that dates back to 1875. “On the other hand, it is another story for Beaujolais Blanc, which is becoming more and more in demand. Indeed it is a Chardonnay similar to Bourgogne wine, which is becoming more and more inaccessible in terms of price. Some customers who previously bought a generic white Burgundy at a reasonable price have switched to Beaujolais Blanc, which can be an excellent alternative.”

  In fact, one of the tenants of “Beaujolais Nouvelle Generation” -– the ten-year roadmap developed by Inter Beaujolais (the Beaujolais wine council) is to diversify the region’s wine portfolio by placing additional emphasis on rosé (short-term goal) and white wines (mid- to long-term goal).

  Of course, one element the winemakers of Beaujolais have had to contend with (touched on earlier in the story) -– and one with which they have no control over -– is the effect of climate change. Interestingly, winemakers in the region are not necessarily seeing this as a bad thing for them, understanding, of course, that it’s not the ideal situation globally.

  “We have observed during the decade a global warming, [that it] is totally beneficial for Beaujolais,” says Lathuiliere-Gravallon. “Now we make more balanced wines, with a little less acidity. Unfortunately, this warming has reduced the yield due to frost and hail,” not to mention drought conditions.

  Marx points out that when he came to Beaujolais 35 years ago, harvest started in mid- to late-September. The past vintage harvest started in mid-August. While he concedes the extra warmth ultimately leads to wines with more structure, there are some new challenges to deal with. “We need to work harder during vinification to maintain the balance between freshness and body, fruit and structure,” he notes.

  While Beaujolais producers can’t directly alter the effects of climate change, they can work together to ensure the byproducts of their profession contribute as little environmental impact as possible. In fact, winemarkers in the region have taken an active role in developing and encouraging sustainable practises on their own, initially with no government encouragement or support. Today they are leaders in promoting positive environmental, economic, and social aspects relating to their industry.

  Marx made some good points a few paragraphs back about the “serious” nature of wine. At the risk of going off on a personal opinion tangent (but since I’m the writer, why not?)… when you consider the rather “serious” state of the world these days, maybe what we could all use is a large glass (or three) of a wine that has been fermented for one reason only: to bring pleasure. It’s not meant to be analyzed, collected, cellared or, (shudder) scored. A few good, fruity gulps of Beaujolais Nouveau (sightly chilled) might be just what the doctor ordered. Of course this year le Beaujolais Nouveau n’est pas arrivé! -– at least here in Ontario (due to supply chain/due to inflation/due to Putin/due to COVID – pick one…or all). But thankfully there’s plenty of Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages, and crus de Beaujolais to keep the party rolling.

By: Sam Johnson

The process of designing sustainable packaging for liquids is a complex one. Today’s store shelves are lined with glass bottles of wine, spirits, juices, and more — all of which include packaging that may be elegant but is certainly not eco-friendly. For instance, in order to make glass, we need sand, and every year, the world uses 50 billion tons of sand to manufacture glass — a number roughly twice the amount that all the world’s rivers can produce. Moreover, removing this sand from riverbeds and shorelines disrupts ecosystems and leaves communities vulnerable to flooding. Glass is infinitely recyclable, but we make approximately 10 million tons of it every year, and our recycling statistics still have significant room for improvement. According to the most recent statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency, we recycle only 39.8% of wine and liquor bottles and only 15.0% of other glass jars.

  Unfortunately, rigid plastic bottles are not the answer. As a material, plastic has revolutionized the way we do business and the way we live, having become a necessity in everything from our food packaging to our textiles and electronics. But with the raw materials necessary to manufacture glass slowly running out, manufacturers are now seeking ways to make plastic packaging more sustainable.

  The answer to this problem is minimizing waste and reducing the materials needed to package products. Reducing packaging waste means less waste to deal with at the recycling plant or ending up in landfills, resulting in less plastic finding its way back into our environment.

Current Packaging Options for Wine are not Sustainable

  Today, it isn’t easy to imagine a wine industry without glass, cardboard, or plastic packaging. In relation to the broad scope of history, however, these packaging materials happen to be fairly recent inventions.

  In 1869, John Wesley Hyatt treated cellulose from cotton fiber with camphor to invent the first synthetic polymer. While searching for an ivory substitute, he stumbled on a revolutionary material that forever freed manufacturers from natural materials such as stone, wood, metal, bone, or horn. Suddenly, manufacturers could make their own raw materials, which was hailed as a great win for the environment — plastic would save elephants, rhinos, and tortoises from the ravages of human greed, as well as put affordable manufactured goods within reach of all classes.

  Roughly a century later, however, society’s optimism for plastic began fading. People first took note of floating plastic garbage on the ocean’s surface in the 1960s. Now, 8 million pieces of plastic pollution enter our oceans every day, amounting to 12 million tons of plastic waste dumped into the oceans every year. In total, we create 300 million tons of plastic waste each year — over 270 million tons of which end up in our environment after being dumped into landfills and oceans.

  Despite the damage caused by plastic since its introduction to consumer markets over a century ago, recent studies have warned that the environmental impact caused by glass bottles — the primary packaging utilized by the wine industry — is even greater than that caused by plastic ones. According to experts from the University of Southampton who spearheaded one such study, “The environmental impact of glass bottles (new and recycled)…[was] the most [negatively] impactful packaging” for each category of drinks included in the study, “with plastic bottles always [showing to be] the second-most impactful.”

  In essence, the University of Southampton study showed that, while traditional plastic packaging tends to cause a larger environmental impact “at the end of [its] life cycle,” glass bottles cause more harm to the environment overall. This is because glass bottles require more energy to produce and transport since they weigh more than other forms of liquid packaging, which releases greater quantities of carbon emissions at each step of their supply chain.

  To compound this issue, the furnaces required to manufacture glass bottles run 24/7 and, according to AGC Glass Europe, “…cannot be stopped and cooled” so long as they are in operation, which typically lasts 15-18 years. Moreover, along with emitting larger quantities of carbon emissions (CO2), these furnaces can also release greater amounts of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), further contributing to acidification and the formation of smog.

Alternative Packaging Solutions for Wine Have a Long Way to Go

  In light of the costs and environmental impact associated with manufacturing, filling, and shipping glass bottles, wine-makers have increasingly looked to more environmentally-friendly alternatives. Perhaps the most common and popular of these is cardboard, which has given rise to the popularity of boxed wine among eco-conscious consumer markets.

  While both glass and cardboard are considered to be equally recyclable, cardboard used for boxed wine boasts one primary advantage in regard to sustainability: a lower carbon footprint. Additionally, cardboard costs much less than glass bottles to produce and ship and poses far less risk of breaking than glass.

  However, alternative packaging like cardboard for the wine industry is not without its drawbacks. For one, wine cannot be poured directly into a cardboard box — it must be contained within a plastic bag that is then placed in the box. As such, boxed wine cannot age, making it a less appealing option for consumers with a more refined palate or those seeking a bolder taste in their wine. Moreover, the inclusion of plastic bags in packaging for boxed wine inherently makes them a less-sustainable option for both manufacturers and consumers.

  Although there are more environmentally-friendly packaging options available within the wine industry, none currently available are completely sustainable. In order to achieve this desired level of sustainability, manufacturers should look to ways that allow them to lower the base amount of packaging used through a practice known as source reduction.

How Source Reduction Can Make the Wine Industry More Sustainable

  The overall goal of source reduction is to curb waste at the source before it is even created. In fact, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says source reduction is the most promising means to achieve sustainability.

  The main goal of source reduction is to reduce the amount of material used in packaging so that less ends up in landfills or oceans when it’s no longer needed. To do this effectively, forward-thinking manufacturers must examine every stage of their packaging production process, from sourcing materials all the way down through shipping and disposal options after use.

  Source reduction is the first step in any sustainable packaging strategy, and most manufacturers are finding that flexible packaging is the way to make it happen. The amount of plastic required for liquid packaging, for example, is cut drastically by using flexible packs instead of rigid plastic containers or bottles. Reducing the amount of plastic used in packaging means less plastic for consumers to recycle as well as reducing manufacturers’ carbon footprint by using less energy in the production process.

  Source reduction also means ensuring that packaging does not add unnecessary weight or volume to products. Flexible packaging for liquids like wine is far lighter than heavy glass bottles. Less weight equates to less pollution from transportation costs.

  Statistics prove that flexible packaging requires fewer resources and less energy to produce. For example, according to Robbie Fantastic Flexibles, a member of the Flexible Packaging Association, “the manufacturing of 780,000 flexible pouches consumes 87% less coal, 74% less natural gas, and 64% less crude oil in comparison to the manufacturing of rigid packages.”

Innovative and Sustainable Packaging for Liquids

  There are new and more sustainable ways to package liquids that result in less waste and greater ease of use for consumers. The design of rigid plastic and glass bottles has not changed significantly since they hit store shelves a half-century ago. But today, some manufacturers are designing flexible plastic packaging for liquids that will provide circularity throughout their supply chain and the product’s lifecycle.

  For example, one new alternative to consider comes from AeroFlexx in the form of the AeroFlexx Pak. These paks are produced with up to 50% recycled material and include a self-sealing valve, allowing consumers greater ease in dispensing only the amount of product desired at a given time.  

  Unlike traditional glass bottles for wine, these innovative valves do not need to be closed by consumers. When consumers knock a package off the counter, it will not spill. When they drop it onto the floor, it will not splatter, and they can hold an entire package upside down without any components escaping. In addition, products such as these remove the need for additional components in the wine’s packaging — caps, corks, and lids, for example — helping to further reduce waste for both wine-makers and consumers.

  These new flexible packages will allow consumers to use every bit of the product they purchase.

Unlike boxed wine that frequently uses non-recyclable plastic in its containers and dispensers, innovative flexible packaging for wine has the added benefit of being curbside recyclable wherever other similar products are accepted.

  For retailers who ship large quantities of glass bottles and jugs containing wine, flexible packaging will offer a way to transport that product without waste due to breakage. Furthermore, lighter plastic packaging means they pay far less for shipping.

  When forward-thinking manufacturers design flexible packaging for wine with source reduction, sustainability, and recycling in mind, it creates a win/win scenario. These sustainable packaging alternatives require fewer plastics to produce and less energy to ship, saving money in production and transportation, as well as in potentially-wasted product.

  These changes in liquid packaging are not just good for the environment — they leave a positive impact on everyone involved.

About the Author

  Sam Johnson has spent a decade drafting, editing, and managing content across an array of industries including entertainment, technology, environmental, political science, government relations, and more. obtained his MBA from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL, in 2017. After graduation, he consulted with the Office of Technology Transfer at NASA-KSC to help commercialize environmental remediation technology for startups.