French-based wine conglomerate Boisset Family Estates sells its California Fog Mountain Merlot and its Yellow Jersey wines in PET bottles in N America, but had less luck with its Beaujolais Nouveau of Burgandy, France. The Bourdeaux-based Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences has raised concerns about quality after a preliminary report in 2010 suggested white wine in plastic bottles stayed fresh for 6 months. Marc Kaufman, of EnVino, the maker of Pet bottles for Boisset, said plastic bottles were not for expensive wines that needed cellaring. Lance McMillan, Chief Executive of wine bottlers Marlborough, said: "My company has the ability to bottle in plastic, however, it was yet to use it for a major bottling. Two clients would probably go ahead with plastic runs in the next few months, but but they were still checking the viability. There isn't much difference to bottle with plastic instead of glass and the same plant can be used for both. However, there are a lot of chemicals that go into making PET bottles, and I would like to see more proof of the environmental effects of making them," he said, adding: "Plastic probably isn't as environmentally sound as people believe. Most Pet bottles have a limited shelf life of between 6m and a year, after which it begins to affect the wine, meaning companies have to be sure the wine would get to shore shelves asap."
