Champagne bottles

Champagne Gets a Green Makeover

Filed under: Wine, Green

You won't necessarily notice it, but your Champagne is about to get greener. Champagne producers have recently standardized a new lighter-weight bottle designed to reduce carbon emissions generated during transport by 8,000 metric tons annually - the equivalent of taking 4,000 cars off the road.

Sure, you say, another group of producers jumping on the green bandwagon. But this was no easy feat. Each bottle of bubbly contains 6 Gs of force -- for the non-rocket scientists among us, that's about 60 pounds of pressure per square inch, similar to the pressure found in a tire on an 18-wheeler. So the bottles are thick and heavy for a reason. However, working with local glass designers, the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), the region's trade group, was able to shave about 2 ounces from the glass bottle without compromising safety. The lighter weight allows producers to pack more bottles per truckload or container, cutting down on the number of shipments.

The move is part of a broader initiative by Champagne makers to cut carbon emissions by 25% by 2020, and a whopping 75% by 2050.

Tags: champagne, Champagne bottles, Earth Day, eco-friendly, environmental footprint, glass, global warming, green