Vino Goes Green From Grapes to Packaging

GREEN PATH wine in the one liter Tetra Pak package is ideal for consumers who want to enjoy a quality wine in a portable, recloseable, safe and easy-to-use package.

03/09/07 The Country Vintner (TCV), an Australian-based wine exporter, announced the first wine produced with organic grapes in a Tetra Pak carton package is available nationwide exclusively at Whole Foods Market stores starting in September.

The wine, sold under the name GREEN PATH, is made by Organic One Wines, one of Australia's oldest and largest vineyards and winery establishments. Organic One Wines is a 100 percent organic vineyard and winery.

These wines aren't available in glass bottles; they are packaged in a Tetra Pak carton, which is a paper-based carton that is more environmentally friendly. The packaging strategy is part of a growing idealism in which people, manufacturers, businesses, organizations and the government are participating to protect the environment for future generations.

GREEN PATH wine in the one liter Tetra Pak package is ideal for consumers who want to enjoy a quality wine in a portable, recloseable, safe and easy-to-use package. Tetra Pak containers are also very environmentally friendly not only because they are made primarily from a renewable resource, but also because the packages are lighter in weight than traditional bottles, requiring less trucks for transportation, thus reducing total greenhouse gas emissions.

GREEN PATH is available in a Chardonnay and Shiraz, sourced from Organic One Wine's 280-acre vineyard -- The Billabong Vineyard in Jerilderie, New South Wales, Australia.

According to Liz Mencel, managing director of The Country Vintner, there are many opportunities for GREEN PATH with grocery stores and restaurants that promote natural products, wine retailers that support innovative packaging, forward thinking airlines and general retailers that support any type of environmental program.

"We are excited about the prospects for GREEN PATH in the U.S. and other markets. These are the first wines produced with organic grapes that are packaged in this format, which means great things for the environment in terms of both the wine and the package. Most important, the wines are of a fantastic quality and stand up on their own as fruit-forward, full-flavored Australian wines."

"Whole Foods Market is excited to be one of the first to bring in a new age of eco-friendly packaging for wine in the United States," said Geof Ryan, global wine co-buyer for Whole Foods Market. "The Green Path organic wines are tasty and fruit-driven and show great quality and value for our shoppers."

The GREEN PATH 1L wine retails for approximately $12 and will be available in September in all Whole Foods Market wine licensed stores.