document: French winegrowers shrug off pride , bottle in plastic Tradition dies hard in the French Pyrenees , but winegrowers are shrugging aside Gallic pride to bottle their wine in plastic to meet a demand for lighter , unbreakable bottles . '' `` Plastic bottles are difficult for me , '' '' said Pascal Fernandez , a winegrower from the Pepieux cooperative in the Languedoc . '' `` In the French culture , a glass bottle with a natural cork is engraved in our genes . '' '' But Fernandez and the 16 other growers who recently gathered at a local bottler and producer , Les Celliers Jean d'Alibert , say they must overcome cultural taboos and adapt to new consumer demands if they are to survive . '' `` We 've had a crisis for the last seven or eight years . Prices dropped every year until they hit 2004 prices . It 's a little better now but I do n't know if it 'll last , '' '' Fernandez said . Many in his region have already given up - '' `` they 've ripped up 15,000 hectares -LRB- 37,000 acres -RRB- of vines in the Aude , '' '' said Fernandez - and without a turnaround , the long-term outlook does not look good . '' `` There are only two winegrowers under 35 , '' '' said Fernandez , gesturing to the group , which cultivates 500 hectares -LRB- 1,236 acres -RRB- of sustainably farmed vines . In fact , none of the winegrowers encouraged their children to follow in their footsteps . It 's too difficult , said several growers . So it 's understandable these winegrowers listened when one of their top clients , Robert Joseph of Hugh Kevin & Robert , proposed bottling their Greener Planet wine in plastic , with an initial order of 75,000 bottles for Asda , the British subsidiary of the mammoth US discount retailer Walmart . '' `` A lot of the wine trade is a one-night stand relationship , '' '' said Robert Joseph of his company 's collaborative , demand-driven project . '' `` We are trying to create an enduring relationship - consumer to distributor to producer to growers . '' '' Joseph and analysts at Euromonitor International say the move to plastic has been driven by demand from buyers as varied as airlines , Texas supermarkets , Nordic and Canadian state liquor monopolies and restaurant chains in Britain . '' `` We are in the most brutally capitalistic part of the wine business . We never own the wine , '' '' said Joseph of his company . '' `` We are a clear bellwether of what the market wants . '' '' And what a growing number of pragmatic tipplers seem to want are unbreakable , easily resealed , lighter wine bottles . '' `` We are expecting positive sales over the following weeks , especially as we head towards the summer months and there are more occasions such as outdoor festivals and concerts , where traditional glass wine bottles are banned , '' '' said Lottie Parsons , spokesperson for Asda . Distributors and retailers are particularly keen on plastic bottles - known in the trade as PET bottles , after the acronym for the material from which they are moulded - because they lighten the carbon footprint from freight , weighing three to five tons less per shipping container , according to Philippe Lauret , president of Les Celliers Jean d'Alibert . The price of the bottle remains the same , however , so producers do n't cut costs . Lauret says his firm expects to supply Asda with 360,000 bottles of wine in plastic bottles this year . He also has an order for over 150,000 bottles of wine-in-PET for the Finnish state liquor monopoly . '' `` It 's a good sign - it 's taking off , '' '' said Lauret . Other wine producers in the Languedoc defend the trend . '' `` PET bottles are interesting for wines that are affordable and accessible for all consumers , like our varietal wines Couleurs du Sud , '' '' said Franck Autard , chief executive of Skalli , whose production of PET-bottled wine shot from zero in 2009 to 2.5 million bottles in 2010 . Christine Cornil , export manager for another large Languedoc producer Auguste Bonlouis , said they delivered 20,000 plastic bottles of My PET Wine to the United States in January and will launch another PET-bottled wine in Britain this spring . Domestic sales hint that the French consumer might be less tradition-bound . Last year Auguste Bonlouis sold one million plastic bottles of wine to French supermarkets , two million small plastic bottles to restaurant chain Flunch and 50,000 plastic bottles of organic wine to retailer Monoprix . '' `` I think we can have both glass and plastic , '' '' said Fernandez , '' `` but there is risk of a huge battle in our profession if we bottle our wine in plastic . '' '' Plastic-bottled wine has met with vitriol in other parts of France , despite consumer demand . When the Boisset Family Estates lightened the load with PET-bottled Beaujolais Nouveau in Japan , Canada and the United States - '' `` where the environment is important , '' '' noted Nathalie Berges-Boisset - producers were outraged . The Beaujolais winegrowers union has since banned bottling their wine , including Nouveau Beaujolais , in plastic . Boisset put its Beaujolais back in glass but continues to bottle wines from other regions , including the Languedoc , in plastic . '' `` I 'm not ashamed , '' '' said Boisset . '' `` We do n't have any taboos and we believe in the environment . '' '' And plastic bottles undeniably open new markets for the wine trade . '' `` I 'm looking at the boating world , '' '' said Joseph . '' `` You do n't want glass on a boat . '' ''
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