Viña Concha y Toro goes lightweight

Viña Concha y Toro becomes the largest wine producer to sign up to the Bottle Weight Accord in its push for greener wine packaging. 

Viña Concha y Toro has become the latest and largest wine producer to sign the Bottle Weight Accord, an initiative created by the Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWR).

The SWR Bottle Weight Accord, introduced in November 2023, is a global initiative aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of wine packaging. Initially supported by a group of forward-thinking retailers, the accord has since attracted signatories from across the wine industry, including producers, distributors, and value chain partners.

By joining the accord, Concha y Toro commits to lowering the average weight of its 750ml wine bottles to 420g or less by the end of 2026.

Concha y Toro produces around 384 million bottles of wine annually, and owns brands including Casillero del Diablo from Chile, Trivento from Argentina, and Bonterra in California.

By adopting lighter bottle weights, the company aims to encourage other producers to follow suit.

Valentina Lira, Viña Concha y Toro’s sustainability director, commented on the broader impact of joining the initiative. “As part of our overall sustainability strategy, we are already involved in many key initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint, and the fact that key retailers from around the world are also signatories to the Bottle Weight Accord gives it extra impact and influence”.

Dr. Peter Stanbury, SWR’s director of research, further emphasised the importance of the company’s involvement noting: “South America is one of the regions which historically has seen some of the heavier wine bottles used, so it is great to see Concha y Toro, a major player in the region, take the lead in committing to a lightweighting standard.”

Concha y Toro joining the Bottle Weight Accord follows on from the company’s re-certification as a B Corp this year, having originally achieved the status in 2021. It was the first Chilean company listed on the stock exchange to obtain this certification.

The producer has further cause for celebration as in August, Concha y Toro declared its 2024 harvest “excellent” due to the outstanding quality of grapes picked. The company told the drinks business that the 2023-2024 growing period “was quite unique”, marked by a particularly rainy winter, which was one of the wettest of the past 30 years (with more than 600 millimetres recorded in Chile’s central zone). This high-level of winter precipitation allowed the soils to be cleansed of salts, while replenishing water levels.

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