The carbon footprint is a recurring thing in the daily news - and it is okay to make the world aware of it. This carbon footprint affects the entire system and champagne is not spared. This is how the lighter glass bottles of champagne have just followed the trend. Glass bottles pose a real problem, even more specific for bottles which are intended to contain sparkling wines (non-still wines).
The carbon dioxide contained in the bottles of champagne wines impose a minimum pressure of 6 bars on the glass and on the closures (the muselet, etc.)! For champagne wine, a bottle also requires thicker walls than for still wines and a much more suitable closure.
From 900 to 835 grams !
In general, a standard bottle of champagne wine weighs around 900 grams and the CIVC has announced that it has conducted tests in contact with French glassmakers to be able to reduce this weight and technically validate the bottle of champagne at 835 grams.
According to the technical and environmental department of the CIVC, whose carbon footprint of the champagne industry has been carried out since 2002, the use of this new bottle of champagne will allow the industry to reduce its carbon footprint by around 8 000 tons !
That's the equivalent of the current issue of 4,000 cars! In order to best achieve its objective and reduce the carbon footprint by 25% by 2020 ! The Interprofessional Committee for Champagne Wines (CIVC) is therefore launching a new bottle standard, which will be 65 grams lighter.
Of course, this innovation is not visible to the naked eye, but on a purchased cardboard box the difference can be clearly felt (see the article on how to transport your champagne) and also reduce the carbon footprint of the deliverers and all the staff. sector such as internet e-cellars.
According to Daniel Lorson, the spokesperson for the CIVC, champagne requires a glass bottle that is more resistant than other wines because of the release of carbon dioxide which exerts a pressure of 6 kilograms per square centimeter, but in fact, we ask glassmakers to make bottles for our favorite elixir that can withstand up to 20 kg per square centimeter.
We couldn't be lighter !
According to champagne wine professionals, this weight reduction corresponds to the greatest possible reduction without noticeable modification of the general characteristics. The glassmakers interviewed guarantee that on this 835 gram bottle, the same mechanical performance as that of the current one will be respected.
The Vranken-Pommery champagne group has also successfully experimented with this latest weight reduction innovation. They put the bottle to the test in 1994 and have used it across the group since 2002, according to its CEO.
The latter also emphasizes that: "with this lighter bottle, but just as efficient, we achieve a double advantage, ecological on the one hand but also economic because of the reduction in transport costs".