When we think of wine in large volumes, our minds wander. So what are the really big volumes? There are big bottles and the bag-in-box wines, but things can get much bigger. The biggest shipped size in wine? Sea containers, in which case it is bulk transport. Almost a third of all wine is shipped in bulk. We delved into this to know the ins and outs of it. And went to visit a bulk wine bottler in Belgium. - TEXT + IMAGE NIEK BEUTE
What is bulk?
It covers all wines that are not transported bottled. The wine is transported in containers to be bottled at its destination. Many times these containers are moved by boat, to be then transported by truck to the bottler.
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Some 15 years ago, bulk transport had a bad name. There was much less knowledge about stable transport of non-bottled wine. The choice of this transport was purely cost-saving, so its use mainly focused on mediocre wines. The quality - which was already poor - quickly deteriorated due to spoilage during transport, and consumers had to swallow it. Today, the quality of containerised transport has developed enormously. Its use has long since ceased to focus only on entry-level wines. Prices of wine shipped in bulk have risen to a consumer price of as much as €10 per bottle. This confirms the quality and confidence in this type of transport.
Curious to find out more about volumes in wine? You can read about them in the latest WINELIFE Magazine 76. Order individual issues here!
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