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During La Wine Tech Perspectives at Wine Paris 2024, on February 12 Amorim Cork hosted a panel discussion with Waitrose & Partners dedicated to the topic: “How does Waitrose make its wine shelves more sustainable?”.

The panel came hot on the heels of the attribution of the Amorim Special Award to Waitrose for its Loved & Found wine range, at the Drinks Business Green Awards.

Waitrose’s sourcing and sustainability trading manager, Barry Dick MW, joined UK-based wine consultant Clem Yates MW and Amorim’s Carlos de Jesus to talk about how choosing wines that are sealed with real corks delivers a lower carbon footprint, and how Waitrose’s decision to eliminate capsules on its Loved & Found range of own-label wines has further reduced their environmental impact.

The round-table discussion also focused on how to develop wine brands with a coherent sustainability strategy, while helping export capabilities and meeting evolving consumer needs.

The participants talked about rising demand for cork among wine brands, driven by quality and sustainability factors, that recently led two UK bulk wine bottlers – Encirc Beverages and Broadland Drinks - to install bottling lines able to seal wines with cork stoppers, in complement to existing lines equipped for screwcaps.