About

Packaging Environmental Leadership Practices

Packaging can be one of the wasteful aspects of our everyday lives. At Sutter Home, we strive to reduce packaging to the bare minimum while still delivering the best wines possible.

Use of recycled materials
All glass used in the bottling process is comprised of approximately 45% recycled glass. In addition to fewer raw materials, less energy is used to make the finished product, as recycled glass requires less heat than raw sand to become finished glass. Most TFE packaging, such as cardboard boxes, are made in part from recycled materials.

Plastic PET Bottles
Sutter Home is the number one producer of the single-serving 187mL wines and has recently switched from glass bottles to innovative PET plastic bottles. PET (which stands for polyethylene terphthalate) is a thermosplastic polymer resin that produces top-quality plastics used for food and beverage containers. 

The PET plastic 187mL bottles feature Plasmax SiOx glass lining that protects flavor and freshness. The glass lining allows the wine to be stored virtually within glass.
There are many features about the new bottles including:

• The PET packaging is 1/6th the weight of the previous glass bottles.
• The new bottles cannot shatter, which allows consumers to take the bottles outdoors for patio and poolside dining.
• PET bottles generate 60% less greenhouse gases than producing glass bottles.
• Approximately 45 187ml bottles can make one sq ft of carpet, one XL T-shirt, or enough fiber fill for a ski jacket
• PET bottle production generates half as much air pollution as glass bottle production
• PET bottle production generates less than 25% wastewater and water pollution as glass production

Caption: Same 187ml of wine, 1/6th the packaging!

Cartons & Labels
At Sutter Home, about 35-40% of carton material is recycled, which is the most practical level of recycled material for transport strength. Earth-friendly inks are used for printing cartons and 100% of our factory corrugated waste is recycled. For our club stores, we’ve developed pre-made trays for direct packaging of bottles. These trays reduce the waste of using full size cartons. Also, all of our labels have earth-friendly inks.

Closures
At our capsule factory, 100% of waste is recycled and we make sure to employ suppliers who also follow these strict standards. Our corks are made from natural oak tree bark that renew their bark every nine years.