Dear Editor:

In response to Tina Caputo's article, "New Bag-In-Box Options: from cubes to tubes" (May 2006), let me raise a glass to remind your readers about how wine packaging materials stack up.

Without question, glass remains the overwhelming choice of wine consumers. A whopping 96% of American wine drinkers who expressed a preference selected glass as their package of choice for wine, according to a new survey of 752 Americans conducted by Newton Research. Fewer than 3% preferred boxes for wine.

While Tetra Pak/Prisma containers are technically recyclable, it's unclear if they are actually recycled. Besides featuring six layers of paperboard, polyethylene and aluminum, only 4% of the U.S. population is currently able to recycle Tetra Pak/Prisma in a curbside or drop-off program.

Glass is 100% recyclable, and has a long and consistent recycling record. In California, for example, where much of the U.S. wine is produced, glass container recycling reached 58% in 2005.

Finally, vintners who introduce and market their wines in bag-in-a-box have overlooked the key advantage of packaging wine in glass bottles: taste. Glass is nonporous and impermeable, so there are no interactions between glass packaging and the products they contain. Only a glass bottle can ensure the flavor, color and aroma of wine.

Vintners who try to differentiate their wines by using alternative packaging materials have forgotten what drinking wine is all about: marrying memorable moments with the finest taste.

s/ Joseph J. Cattaneo
President
Glass Packaging Institute
Alexandria, Va.
via e-mail


Editor:

In the May 2006 Packaging Issue you have an article entitled: "Can Red Wines Live Under Screwcaps?" (For much more on this topic, see the August Closures & Packaging issue.) I would love to hand these out when my winery opens, since I plan to use screwcaps exclusively.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a wine tasting in Maryland. The owner has an excellent shop, and I really respect the selection in the store and the staff who provide assistance to customers. This particular wine tasting was a flight of eight wines from Montalcino: four Rossos and the corresponding Brunellos.

However, one of the Rosso bottles being poured was corked. They discussed what "corked" means and how it affects the wine. I pointed out that this could have been prevented if the winery had used screwcaps. The distributor said that you cannot age red wines under screwcap. When I challenged him on this, he vaguely replied about some scientific study that "proved" his point.

I would like to forward your article to several of my wine pals, but also to this misinformed distributor and the shop owner. The worst thing that can happen in wine is for people "in authority" to state "facts" which, in fact, have no basis in truth.

Thanks!
s/ Morris Zwick
President
Terrapin Station Winery
Elkton, Md.
via e-mail


Editor:

In response to Alice Feiring's "Opinion/ Analysis" (June 2006), the base of the Demeter wine standard is the grape, and most importantly how it is grown. The "Biodynamic Wines" and "Wine Made From Biodynamic Grapes" (WMFBG) that folks are smacking their lips over come from vital farm organisms that generate natural resources rather than exploit them. It takes a huge commitment on anyone's part to do that. This trumps wine snobbery, as we have to have an earth to sip upon in order to sip. We should thank those who attempt it, not publicly trash them.

The Demeter wine standard that Feiring prefers is "Biodynamic Wine" (unmanipulated). The WMFBG classification exists because it is not the same thing, and there are New World winemakers who want to craft wines from biodynamic grapes. These represent two different realities, but not necessarily two levels of quality. The fact that the grapes used in both categories have to be Biodynamic® does matter. One does not have to look far to find high critical acclaim for some of these WMFBG wines.

There will be vintage years when even the most excellent vineyard site will not produce a "Biodynamic Wine," given the earth's now unpredictable climate. The Demeter WMFBG classification is not an open door allowing a winemaker to manipulate as s/he pleases. With the long list of manipulations that modern wine technology offers, the WMFBG standard allows only the basic manipulations stated. Anything not stated in the Demeter standard is not allowed unless first cleared by Demeter.

The current Demeter winemaking standard is barely 1 year old and, given that the universe is not stagnant, it will evolve. Please--these WMFBG's are not science experiments. Feiring's challenges are good ones, and this is intrinsic to the process of evolution. May they bring about positive evolution instead of common-minded people beating each other up.

s/ Jim Fullmer
Director
Demeter USA
Philomath, Ore.
via e-mai