The popularity of PET as an alternative material for wine bottles is continuing to grow. In October 2010, a survey by Wine Intelligence (London / UK; www.wineintelligence.com) revealed that PET bottles are most likely to be accepted by UK consumers as an alternative to glass (see Plasteurope.com of 28.10.2010). Now, APPE (Wrexham / UK; www.appepackaging.com), formerly Artenius PET Packaging, has said that it doubled the number of PET bottles it supplied for this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau vintage, underlining the continuing growth in popularity of the format for wine packaging.

APPE has also received major orders for both 750ml and 187ml bottles for a South African winery and for the supply of 187ml bottles for in-flight wines to two of Europe’s leading airlines. Total PET wine bottle production by the company has grown by 45% during 2010 and APPE remains optimistic about further growth in 2011.

APPE wine bottles contain an active barrier system, which, it says, means wine can be stored in the PET bottle without compromising taste or quality. This may go some way to allay the concerns of the French, whose Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin (ISVV, Villenave d’Ornan, Bordeaux / France; www.isw.fr) recently carried out a study that suggested that white wine begins to oxidise after six months of being stored in single- and multi-layer PET bottles – see Plasteurope.com of 20.05.2010. Red wine, however, was unaffected, the research showed.

“The impressive growth in demand underlines consumer acceptance of PET as a suitable pack format for wine,” said APPE's Sylvain Houard. “Our PET bottles enable the quality of the wine to be preserved while offering important benefits in terms of convenience and an improved environmental profile, both of which are important purchasing considerations among consumers, he added.”