Innovation galore in wine category

Saflite Packaging

The Company of Wine People’s Web site touts convenience as one of the pouch’s key attributes. It’s easy to open and pour, cools quickly, is lightweight, reseals easily, and keeps wine fresh for a month after opening. Sustainability is also a driver, says the winery. It claims that, compared to two 750-mL glass bottles, a single pouch’s carbon footprint is 80% smaller and represents 90% less waste in a landfill.

But convenience and sustainability aside, innovation for innovation’s sake also seems to have been a motivator. As Bennie van Rensburg, The Company of Wine People’s brand and business development manager, tells Packaging and Print Media, "The wine industry gets a lot of flack for not being innovative."

Saflite makes the pouch from a three-layer lamination supplied by its Astrapak affiliate, Cape Wrappers (www.capewrappers.com). The structure, described as 12-micron polyester/12-micron metallized polyester/150-micron linear low-density polyethylene, provides a nine-month shelf life. The clear polyester layer is reverse-printed.