In this Sustainable Wine Roundtable podcast, I’m joined by Laura Kvissberg, head of sustainability at Alko, Finland’s alcohol monopoly.

We discuss how Alko prioritises collaboration, working closely with other Nordic alcohol monopolies on joint environmental and human rights roadmaps, and how they collaborate globally through SWR. Alko is not only one of SWR’s founding members, but also a founding signatory of the Bottle Weight Accord (BWA) and the newly launched Sparkling Bottle Weight Accord.

Laura shares how Alko implemented the BWA requirements, key learnings and best practices for lightweighting, and what’s next for Alko in reducing the weight of sparkling wine bottles.

The Bottle Weight Accord (BWA) launched in late 2023, with signatories committing to reduce the average weight of wine bottles sold to below 420g by the end of 2026.

Three years on, as we near the end of our target year, we have over 20 companies involved from across the wine value chain. Collectively, our signatories make and sell around 3 billion bottles, accounting for roughly 11% of wine sold globally.

In this From the Roundtable episode I’m joined by SWR’s Dr Peter Stanbury. From cost to carbon to collaboration, we discuss the learnings from the BWA, impact to date and what's next for the accord.

We've also recently launched a Sparkling Bottle Weight Accord, see more details here.

Regulation, sustainability, consumer preferences, availability, cost…wine companies face a growing number of considerations when it comes to packaging decisions. How can companies navigate the varying trade-offs and identify the most optimal form of packaging for their products and target markets? This is exactly what SWR’s Packaging Choice Tool is designed to help companies do.

In this From the Roundtable episode I’m joined by SWR’s Dr Peter Stanbury, who shares the latest updates on the tool we’re currently developing in partnership with Wine Australia.

We also briefly discuss the responses we’ve received to date from the Sustainable Vineyard Practice Survey that we launched earlier this year. We want to understand what sustainable viticulture and labour actually look like on the ground around the world, and encourage growers to complete the survey. It’s completely anonymous, open to all participants, and takes about 15 minutes to complete. You can find the survey here.