Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Sustainability Report: Bottling it on glass

Published: 25 November, 2024

James Lawrence peers into the growing debate surrounding glass bottle usage in an environmentally challenged age.

Wales abandons UK-wide DRS in favour of glass inclusion

Published: 19 November, 2024

Wales will press ahead with its own Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) as the devolved government announced its intention to back out of a UK-wide framework which is looking to exclude glass.

Lanchester’s ‘super lightweight’ 300g bottle launches in Aldi

Published: 17 May, 2024

Lanchester Wines has become the first UK wine importer to launch a wine in a super lightweight 300g wine bottle, in partnership with a major discounter.

Bottle Collection Initiative aims to realise ‘reusable supply chain’

Published: 14 May, 2024

Research into a bottle reuse initiative launched during last year’s London Wine Fair (LWF) has now concluded, with a Reuse Ready Charter now set to formalise an industry wide approach.

Wine Society outlines bold new sustainable initiatives

Published: 21 September, 2023

The Wine Society is to further its sustainable credentials with both a producer-focused insetting fund and a drive to 100% lighter weight glass across its portfolio.

UK government overrules glass inclusion in Scottish DRS

Published: 30 May, 2023

The latest back and forth between the UK government and Scotland’s devolved powers has derailed plans for Scotland to include glass as part of a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), with glass now to be fully excluded both north and south of the border.

Finding the ‘perfect’ English sparkling wine glass

Published: 30 January, 2023

Designing the best glass with which to serve a particular style of wine has long been the mission for the Riedel family, which has built a glass-blowing empire out of pinpointing the precise dimensions for higher end drinks receptacles. And having a bespoke vessel to deliver the best expression of your wine arguably suggests you have ‘arrived’, confirming a seat at the top table. A position English sparkling wine took a step closer to last week.

New DRS launch date reconfirms glass exclusion for England and NI

Published: 20 January, 2023

The newest launch date for a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in England and Northern Ireland has re-confirmed that businesses will not be required to participate in a new system for glass recycling. However, confusion still abounds around the roll-out of four different national DRS schemes and how they will work in practice.

Guy Woodward: The elephant in the room

Published: 17 January, 2023

I don’t know about you, but I drank wine every day over the two-week Christmas dormancy. And I’m not just talking about a glass with dinner. We got into an agreeably unhurried routine: a lazy breakfast over Wordle, the papers and some idle scrolling; the deployment of any necessary chores (mostly either purchasing or preparing food); a long walk with (followed by washing of) the dog; then changing into what I’ll generously describe as loungewear before opening a bottle and getting some snacks going. This generally took us to around 4pm, whereupon the rest of the day was spent in a fug of board games, TV boxsets and eating and drinking.

Soapbox: The need to reuse and refill

Published: 15 December, 2022

Muriel Chatel, CEO of Sustainable Wine Solutions, is conducting a pilot with restaurants to prove that most bottles can be saved from waste and reused or upcycled. Here, she makes the case for large-scale refill and reuse

Cramele Recas rolls out PET trial

Published: 25 November, 2022

Romanian winery Cramele Recas has officially launched its Recycled PET Multibarrier Bottles Project, as it tests the waters of alt formats with customers – and with the aim of eventually bringing a full-scale launch to market.

Alternative formats group publishes open letter to government

Published: 07 November, 2022

A group which advocates for the rapid use and adoption of alternative wine formats, has published an open letter from the industry to the government, calling for the introduction of consumer tax incentives for carbon-friendly alternative packaging.

Soapbox: Is keg wine a blessing or a curse?

Published: 13 September, 2022

As an experienced wine consultant specialising in the on-trade, Neil Bruce – aka wine margin optimiser at Studio Alto – turns his sights to the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to the keg-versus-bottle ‘green’ debate.

Laithwaites leans into recycled glass

Published: 27 July, 2022

Online retailer Laithwaites has expanded its first recycled glass range following better-than-expected initial sales.

Paper bottle makes its way to Laithwaites

Published: 04 July, 2022

Online wine merchant Laithwaites has launched its first wine packaged in a paper bottle – continuing a packaging trend which is rapidly gathering speed.

Innovation Report: The glass debate

Published: 10 May, 2022

Is glass creating a bottleneck in the drive to greater sustainability and can we change consumer perception of it as a strong indicator of quality? Andrew Catchpole reports back from Harpers’ recent Sustainability of Glass webinar.

Spiralling production costs: the battle for bottles – and more

Published: 09 May, 2022

One of the biggest challenges facing wine producers worldwide is the shortage of glass bottles – but that’s not the only problem that will dog 2022, as James Bayley reports.

Rethinking glass

Published: 21 April, 2022

With glass recycling now definitively out of the deposit return scheme for England and Northern Ireland, the question of what to do with glass is back on the agenda. Could the future be reusable? Jo Gilbert reports.

Trade finds no easy solution in glass sustainability debate

Published: 21 April, 2022

For the near future, at least, the glass wine bottle is here to stay, albeit with a re-evaluation of how it is used, with consumer perception being a major hurdle to change.

Trade celebrates achievements while tackling bias via International Women’s Day

Published: 08 March, 2022

International Women’s Day (IWD) is shining a spotlight on the top female talent working in the industry today, with initiatives like Whisky Investment Partners’ Break The Bias campaign also raising awareness of the continuing battle for many to achieve gender parity in the workplace.