Lonely at the top: going capsule-free
Author: Mark Pardoe MW
We’re all accustomed to our bottles of wine coming decorated, often eye-catchingly, with a capsule covering the top. Mark Pardoe MW, our Wine Director, looks at the purpose of the ubiquitous capsule – and why we’ve decided not to use one for our new Own Selection Châteauneuf-du-Pape. (Since this article was first published, we have also removed the capsules from our 2021 Own Selection Provence Rosé and our 2019 Good Ordinary Claret.)
Capsules on bottles of wine first came into use during the 18th century. The capsule’s role was to protect the cork from attack by cork weevils and other pests (and, given the social standing of wine drinkers in those days, perhaps from unscrupulous staff).
Back then, the coverings were made from lead, which was easy to mould over the top of the bottle. As lead’s toxicity became evident, it was outlawed from the 1990s onwards. Lead was replaced by a variety of substances: principally aluminium, tin and plastic. Though by then, how wine was bought and consumed had changed, and hygiene standards in the winery had dramatically improved. The purpose of the capsule had become almost entirely cosmetic – and certainly so for wines destined to be drunk within a few years of harvest.
USING RECYCLED MATERIALS
While recycling is an option for aluminium and tin, it is still an expensive and energy-hungry process. When not made from recycled material, these metals must be mined from the earth, with all the environmental ramifications that entail. And the products almost always must be imported as well: I know of a Californian producer who insisted his premium wine must have a heavyweight tin capsule, which had to be imported from Europe, only for the resultant wine to be exported back to Europe.
Plastic is also widely used as a cheaper option to tin or aluminium, and there are now capsule options made from recycled plastic. Recently, we have tried to find suitable examples, but it’s not straightforward: capsules made from recycled plastic often cause problems for the wineries we work with, as they can prove incompatible with bottling lines. There are multiple examples of wines in our Own Selection that have had to have their recycled plastic capsules applied manually – much to the frustration of the supplier.
A BETTER WAY
All of this had led us to ask ourselves: do we really need capsules on our wine bottles? As long as the wine is destined for consumption relatively soon after purchase, the answer is that we don’t. This neatly fits our Own Selection, as these are wines created to drink upon release. The first example of a capsule-free wine in the range is our new 2019 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, made for us by Château la Nerthe. We intend to roll out the initiative across as much of our own range as possible over the next year.
Offering a wine without a capsule removes unnecessary packaging. It also reduces CO2 emissions; even if we were to use recycled material, it would still have to be industrially reconstituted. Not using a capsule at all means we are not relying on environmentally damaging mining processes to produce aluminium or tin.
There is still a case for the use of capsules on wines destined for longer-term storage: capsules offer a degree of protection to the wine and the cork as both are ageing. But we would expect all our quality-conscious producers to consider their options carefully when deciding which material to use.
But when the benefits are purely cosmetic, we think it’s time to admit that we don’t really need a capsule on our bottle of wine. After all, the romance comes from pulling the cork – not from nicking our finger on the tiny shard of aluminium that we created when trying to remove the top of the capsule with the little knife on our corkscrew.
You can buy our 2019 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, our 2021 Provence Rosé, and our 2019 Good Ordinary Claret on bbr.com.
I have to say that I disagree with the opinion expressed above. The bottles look unattractive and incomplete without the closure. Furthermore, just as pulling the cork is part of the “ceremony” of wine drinking so is cutting the foil with a serrated knife.
Many thanks for your comment, Martin. Mark is away at the moment, but Barbara Drew, another of our MWs involved in this project, had the below note for you.
All the best,
Charlie
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“Perhaps I’m biased as I’m one of those who always ends up with a cut on my finger when removing the foil, but to me that is definitely a lesser part of the ceremony. (Though corks that are so old they crumble when pulled from the bottle are also problematic in my view!)
You make a very interesting point though, as to what makes a “complete” bottle of wine. Of course if we head back a couple of hundred years, wine was sold from the barrel, and your bottle was a refillable affair, perhaps with a chalk mark on it somewhere to indicate what its contents were. Capsule and label came along later, first as a protection measure, as Mark mentions. Latterly their role was more to help distinguish bottles from each other on the shelf, and to make them look a little more uniform and, as you say, more attractive.
What we have to weigh up, as a responsible retailer, is how far we can, or should, deviate from current practice. In the interests of saving hundreds of kilogrammes of single-use metal, or plastic, from landfill every year, we think this is a fair compromise. And for those really special bottles – the ones which have lain, sleeping, in your cellar for decades, they will still have the full ceremony, crumbling corks, sharp metal edges and all.”
I was surprise when I received the capsule free bottle from BBR. At one moment, I almost wanted to return the wine. I spoke with the salesperson and got to aware of the idea and concept behind. However, I still find myself very difficult to be convinced with such idea.
Firstly, for me, drinking a wine is a moment of sharing with friends and family. Bringing a bottle that seems to be incomplete or half-open. It requires me to explain and justify to them about the concepts and ideas behind.
Secondly, idea of “saving the world, eco-friendly” was good as you can position the company in such spiritual highland but I hope BBR as a leader could also prepare to spend some publicity budget to educate the market. You may save some costs of putting up the capsule, why don’t you use them for educating the market. If most people knows it is a nice concept and start to agree with what you are doing, we could be less embarrassing when we open a bottle of your capsule free bottle. Most important thing is “does BBR performed sufficient market survey to collect opinions from consumer that it is an idea that we would conform and concur?” Personally i don’t think i am the minority who go against this idea but of course I would be convinced if you can prove to me that I am the minority by statistics.
Dear Alan,
Thank you very much for your thoughtful comment. Mark Pardoe MW asked me to pass on the below message for you.
Many thanks,
Charlie
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. I can appreciate that a bottle without a capsule may look unusual the first time around, though I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how our customers (and even some sceptical colleagues) have responded since we launched our first bottle in 2021. We surveyed customers last year and found that over 80% were in favour of going capsule-free, with just 3% unsupportive of the idea.
As you rightly point out, there is an important environmental consideration here. We believe that for wines intended to be consumed early on, the foil capsule is purely a cosmetic choice – and a source of potential waste that we can eliminate. We are working with producers that share this view, notably our partners at Château la Nerthe for our Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Château la Mascaronne for our Provence Rosé and Dourthe for our Good Ordinary Claret.
Educating our colleagues and the wider market is important. I am glad that our salesperson was able to explain our thinking behind this decision, and I commend you for doing the same with your friends and family. It is heartening to see some of our competitors follow suit with their own ranges, too. This topic and our efforts have been covered in the media by outlets including Decanter and the drinks business. There was also an article by Rupert Millar for The-Buyer.net recently which you may find of interest: https://www.the-buyer.net/opinion/rupert-millar-on-getting-rid-of-wine-capsules/
All the best,
Mark
Let me see, capsules, irrelevant and damaging to the environment, the ‘lack’ of capsule provides an opportunity to show 21st century awareness, stunning the lesser informed guests with one’s knowledge. Be clear that once the supermarkets realise the advantages they will duly follow.
It seems it takes a very old wine house to move life on.