Top Bordeaux wines are traditionally delivered in wooden cases*. The argument being that for these wines, destined to age in a cellar, and possibly shipped around the world, it’s the best way to keep those glass bottles safe. As wineries become more aware of the carbon footprint of shipping and are turning to lighter bottles will we see these replaced by cardboard? 

Le pin et le vin.

When I first moved to Bordeaux it was told that the fortunes of region were built on ‘pin et vin’. Understanding ‘pain et vin’, I thought that it odd, despite the French daily baguette habit, to make a fortune from bakeries. Of course, pin means pine. 

The Landes forest to the west and south of the Bordeaux vineyard is Europe’s largest cultivated forest. Based around an indigenous, mainly Maritime Pine, forest it was planted in the 19^thcentury following a visit by Napoleon III in 1855 (a busy year for him). It was designed to stabilise the sandy coastline. 

Now, at one million hectares, it covers 34% of the Nouvelle Aquitaine department, running from Soulac at the tip of the Médoc peninsula to the Spanish border. 90 % is privately owned and supplies ten million cubic metres of wood per annum, employing 56,000 people and generating ten billion euros. By comparison, Bordeaux wine generates around four billion euros pa. 

Obviously, this is not all going to wooden cases, construction, furniture and paper pulp are much larger consumers, but having this ready supply to hand makes it easy to understand why wooden cases are the go-to for Bordeaux wineries. La Caisserie Bordelaise, the largest local case maker, produces four and half million cases a years plus other presentation and golfing items around wine with wood from the Landes forest.

A winery dozen.

A wooden case is so much more than just a protective container, it has its own charm and implies that inside lies a quality product. Not everyone buys wine by the case of course, so perhaps this argument is aimed at the trade or the collector. Although for anyone keen to keep wine for a while I can, and do, recommend buying a case. With wines destined for ageing, there is a geeky pleasure in following their evolution over time, being able to dip into a case to see how they are coming along.

Traditionally, cases are of 12 bottles, but pricier wines are offered as six, or even threes as producers kindly take financial constraints of their clients into consideration.

Is the challenge of prying it open part of the charm? Feeling you have finally deserved that bottle? I’m not so sure. Newer designs add grooves into the case to fix down lids with bands rather than nails. Château Haut Bailly and Troplong Mondot both use this case design, with rounded-off edges that don’t catch on clothes as you move them around.

Utile à l’agréeable.

The French do have the chic of making the functional beautiful and wine cases are no exception. Sliding case tops are a solution, needing no nails or plastic bands. The beautiful, flat, six bottle cases of Château Quintus, the right bank outpost of the Haut Brion group, Domaine Clarence Dillon and their second wine Le Dragon de Quintus are a perfect example. The lacquered brown and gold top slides effortlessly across the top of the case, which is also lighter than a traditional 6 bottle case and easier to place in pallets for transport.

Branded. 

The case is part of the brand image. Château names, logos or images of the property are burnt into the wood case. Case ends or ‘etampes’ traditionally knocked out from cases at wine merchants when bottles were sold off individually, adorn many home bars, cellars. They make great cheese and chopping boards – I have pretty tatty array of these at home where you can only just about make out some of the names. 

Law of attraction

These etampes are now collectors’ items, produced by case makers and sold in the shops of chateaux alongside the wines. The same chateau imagery is also transferred to trays, carving boards, cheese boards and so much more. They make great souvenirs for wine tourists when they can’t always take a bottle back in their luggage.  If you are lucky enough t be invited to lunch at Château Phelan Segur, they sometimes offer case ends, burnt with the date of your lunch as a souvenir.

Properties are adding colours, the red branding across Château Clinet in Pomerol extends to the wooden case, as it does with Château Croizet Bages in Pauillac and Château Fombrauge in Saint Emilion colours the whole of the case ‘Bordeaux red’.

Château Haut Bailly have also added a touch of red. After re christening their second wine Haut-Bailly II from the 2018 vintage, they redesigned the case differentiating it from the first wine with a bright red circle, reminiscent of the roundness of the wine and a nod to the curves of their newly opened cellar.

A special case 

Wooden cases also make great gifts, whether 3, 6 or 12 they seem more special than a cardboard case. They are perfect for housing special collections, such as verticals from a chateau. Château Pichon Baron in Pauillac offers beautiful black satin finished cases of three or sox at the chateau boutique. Embossed with the chateau coat of arms in gold the case of six is finished with a leather carrying handle.

The ‘5 Etoiles’ Sauternes case, is a joint venture between five first growths of Sauternes. Château Sigalas Rabaud, Château Rabaud Promis, Château Lafaurie Peyraguey, Château La Tour Blanche and Château Rayne Vigneau have each placed a bottle of their wine in the special cases. The sixth bottle is a unique blend made of wine from each of the chateau in a ‘5* bottle’. The 2016 collection is sold out but they will be launching the 2017 later this year, available at all the participating properties.

 

Upcycle   

But are wooden cases sustainable? Sustainability is on everyone’s’ lips in wine right now. It’s not only about what happens in the vines. Back in 2008, research by the CIVB showed the inputs in wine, including packaging, represented over 30% of a properties carbon footprint and transport a further 20%. The introduction in 2019 of an online tool to measure a property’s carbon footprint, compared to their peers seems to be accelerating an awareness and stimulating innovation. Over 65% of Bordeaux vineyard is now under some kind of environmental certification a vision that is broader than just agricultural practises.

Heavy bottles are under scrutiny, with Jancis Robinson weighing, naming and shaming the heavy bottles delivered to her for tastings, a unique opportunity that would never have come about if not for pandemic tasting at home. 

Transport in wooden cases is heavy, but they are not difficult to recycle, after knocking out the case end (see above) the remainder can happily be used for firewood and quick social media browse will show lots of up cycling ideas from storage space and planters to bicycle baskets. If you can’t recycle, upcycle. 

La Caisserie Bordelaise, the largest local case maker, produces four and half million cases a years plus other presentation and golfing items around wine with wood from the Landes forest.

Cardboard quandary 

Many restaurants and retailers prefer cardboard due to issues of storage space and recycling. Cardboard is not only lighter, but it uses 40% less energy to produce, is easier to recycle and can be delivered flat, taking up less space so less delivery lorries on the road. 

Alongside the trend to lighter bottles, cardboard is moving out from the shadow of wood. It  is not always a simple solution, as they are often sealed with plastic tape and printed chemical inks. It takes some research, but with new printing techniques it is now an environmentally responsible  choice for some properties that also holds its own design wise. Cardboard cases can be prestigious too. 

Château d’Arcole in Saint Emilion takes their sustainable philosophy through to packaging. Their wine is organic, bottled in light glass with 100% recyclable aluminium capsules dyed with natural ink. The label is made from recycled paper as is the flat case, (less wasted space) which uses no glue and is therefore 100% recyclable. It is also very attractive and tells the Napoleonic story for the property.

Following a CIVB audit that found they used 18 tons of wood pa., Château Brown first offered clients the choice of a new cardboard case, printed with biodegradable ink, for their 2019 primeur campaign. I like this notion of offering a choice. Using the Bordeaux primeur method of selling allows this flexibility. Orders placed at primeur are delivered up to 18 months later, properties contact clients asking for bottling instructions; size of bottle, number per case and now, the option of cardboard or wood. 

For the 2020 vintage, busy being tasted en primeur right now, Château Lilian Ladouys, Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in Saint Estèphe asked young French illustrator Julie Guillot to create a multi-coloured design for their new, flat cardboard case which will contain lighter locally made bottles as part of their move towards a more sustainable vineyard. 

For the 2020 vintage, busy being tasted en primeur right now, Château Lilian Ladouys, Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in Saint Estèphe asked young French illustrator Julie Guillot to create a multi-coloured design for their new, flat cardboard case which will contain lighter locally made bottles as part of their move towards a more sustainable vineyard. 

Content or container? 

Sally Evans at Château George 7 has made sustainability part of her underlying wine philosophy since buying her three-ha vineyard in Fronsac in 2015. For the launch of her new white wine this year, she chose a simple brown cardboard case made from 75% recycled cardboard (the rest from sustainable forests). With no chemical printing and sealed with paper tape it can be easily recycled. She also uses lowest possible weight of glass bottles (Jancis Robinson would be proud, Sally) made of 87% recycled glass and with recycled paper labels. 

Is there a risk to having a plain packaging? As a newcomer to the market, Sally does worry it might not reflect the quality that is in the bottle. Time will tell, but once tasted I think the wine will outshine the packaging.  

Bordeaux always seems caught between a rock and a hard place with innovation. Traditional practises often have advantages, especially for wines destined for ageing, but the vast majority of Bordeaux wine is affordable and not made to spend years in a cellar. The trend for questioning received wisdom, a desire for innovation, responding to and often anticipating consumer demand offering clients more choice can only be a good thing. 

Would you buy Bordeaux in a cardboard box? *

*A word about the words. As a rule of thumb, wines come in cases, beer in crates, chocolates in boxes. 

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