One of France's top wine producers has said it will export its 2008 Beaujolais Nouveau in plastic bottles for the first time. Boisset, one of the 5 main French exporters of premium wines, is aiming to deliver at least 100,000 bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau in PET to the US, Canada & Japan, about the same number as was sent in glass in 2007. The firm say the move to PET is mainly for environmental & transport cost reasons, but glass bottle supply problems are also an issue. "The main reason is environmental, reducing CO2, but we will also see a colossal saving on transport costs as it mainly goes by plane," said Antoine Pirie, Boisset's export director. The plastic bottles weigh 60g, compared to 400g for glass. Mr. Pirie also noted that glass bottle price increases of about 10% in the last 18 months & supply problems were also being borne in mind.
