Boxing for the Environment w/ Jason Haas, Tablas Creek Vineyard

Constantly looking to improve its environmental impact, Jason Haas, Second Generation Proprietor of Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles, recently released a trial of 3L bag-in-box wines at $95/box. Though this is 15% lower than the normal bottle price, it still represented ~3x the highest boxed wine in the market. However, the potential to lower the total carbon footprint of the wine by 40% led to trialing and a terrific reaction to the 300 box trial, which sold out in 4 hours. Jason explains the rationale, strategy, and process of going bag-in-box and for other alternative packaging. If you love the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon.Detailed Show Notes: The rationale for trying bag-in-boxDid a self-assessment of the winery’s carbon footprint - on the Tablas Creek blogFor the average CA winery, >50% of the carbon footprint is from the glass bottle (including transportation), as glass requires high temperatures to mold and has a heavy impact on shipping and transportationTablas Creek moved to a lightweight bottle in ~2010, which saves ~10% of CO2 footprint; heavier bottles are ~10% more3L bag-in-box reduces packaging carbon footprint by ~84% and ~40% of the total carbon footprintA wine blogger commented on Jason’s Facebook that Tablas Creek is well-positioned to create change w/ bag-in-boxPreviously topped out at ~$35 for 3L, or ~$7.50/bottleTablas Creek bag-in-box trialBottled 100 cases of Patelin de Tablas Rose, ~300 3L boxesGot ~60k views on a blog post on boxes in 2 days, lots of positive commentsIn mid-Feb 2022, released the boxes to the member email list and sold out in 4 hoursWines are currently under screw cap, meaning they are similar and don’t need adjustments to be in a bag-in-boxFuture bag-in-box effortsMay extend to all 3 Patelin de Tablas bottlings (red, white, rose), which sell for $28/bottle retail, and other wines not meant for long agingLikely will not sell in distribution - an “uphill battle,” with the price point being too high vs. the existing marketBag-in-box ties to Tablas Creek’s mission - “to have a positive impact on the way grapes are grown, wine is made, and how wine is packaged and sold”Box pricing$28/bottle retail would be $112 for 4 bottles (1 box)Cost is less for packaging, which was passed along to customersPriced at $95/3L box, thought it was good to be under $100Bag-in-box bottling & storage processBottling boxes was the biggest challenge at a small scaleRented a semi-automated filler (would cost ~$10-12k to buy)Very labor-intensive, took 4 hours for 324 boxesThere’s now a mobile bottling (boxing) line with bag-in-box capabilities based in Sonoma, may rent this for future boxingsNot a lot of reliable data on how wine ages in boxes outside of 6-12 months, will be tasting and testingBags in the boxes have higher oxygen transfer rates (“OTR”) than glass bottlesOnce opened, the boxes stay fresh for at least several weeks Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.