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The EU regulation requiring the wrapping of corks, agraffe and parts of the neck of sparkling wine bottles with a foil could be cancelled soon. After requests for change from several producers, among them Florian Lauer from the German winery Peter Lauer **** (Saar), the new directive is to be published in the Official Journal soon after the deadline for objections in the EU Parliament has expired. The films, which are mostly made of aluminium, are unnecessary packaging waste that increases environmental pollution.
A few days ago, the champagne house De Sloovere-Pienne was the first producer in the region to introduce new bottles in which only a strip of paper wraps the neck of the bottle instead of aluminium foil. According to the Comité Interprofessionel des vins de Champagne (CIVC), the region's specifications stipulate the wrapping of cork, wire cage and bottle neck, but not the material. Accordingly, paper was also permissible. Therefore, the CIVC and the French customs have approved the new neck sleeves.
Producers are also dispensing with metal, plastic or foil capsules for more and more still wines in order to save unnecessary packaging and weight. The British retail chain Waitrose already abolished the wrappings of the bottle necks for own-brand wines at the beginning of 2023, as they were no longer necessary from a qualitative point of view.
(al / Source: Weinwirtschaft, Decanter)