Taylor’s Switching To New Bottle and Cork

[Andy Velebil]

Pretty cool as I’ve often found wine bottles tend to be much heavier than they need to be. But the interesting part is the t-cork stopper change.

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2026/ ... unnoticed/

[Eric Menchen]

Interesting and positive methinks.

At the risk of starting a tangent, I've found plenty of wine brands that go for heavy bottles and they do nothing but annoy me.

[Glenn E.]

Definitely a boon for those of us with 12-bottle VinGuardes!

I've had a full VinGuarde get to exactly 50 lbs before. Depends on where you buy and the weight of their bottles, of course, but even just a couple of these lighter Taylor bottles would leave some breathing room!

[Moses Botbol]

Not a fan of wines in the super heavy bottle. To me it's the first sign of "smoke and mirrors".

I like that Taylor is putting the effort into sustainability and forward thinking of the most elemental part of port wine beyond the wine itself.

[Lucas S]

Nobody likes heavy bottles for handling but they do have more thermal mass, a thinner bottle will change it's temperature faster to variations in the ambient temperature, therefore proper storage will become more important. (AI calculated a glass thermal mass decrease of 24%, and overall warming speed change of 4% with 750ml of wine inside); not a huge deal but still noteworthy.

After reading the full article, it struck me as cost cutting measures sold as environmentally friendly/greenwashing. Bamboo planks are compressed with resin/glue under high pressure; yes it regrows faster but the processing can make it emit more than oak. It's also heavy and shipped from China, when the oak is presumably local.

[Bradley Bogdan]

I do appreciate lighter bottles when they’re not tipping into “The quality team sees a significant uptick in breakage” range. Better for flying/shipping and better for the environment is a win-win for me. On the flip side, bottles that feel full when they’re empty or have punts large enough to lose a small child inside are major pet peeves.

Boxes I’m more of a mixed bag on. I don’t usually care if you’ve got a presentation box with my whiskey or wine, BUT if you do, don’t phone it in. I remember being at a shop while a case of six Dair Ghaelach bottlings from Midleton were being received, and the cheap bonded bamboo cases and cheap screws/hinges are all coming apart on all of them as they opened the case. If you’re putting a box around your $300 bottle, make me feel guilty to get rid of it or proud to repurpose it. Otherwise, save me the $20 or whatever and don’t put it in a box.


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[Bradley Bogdan]

Pretty cool as I’ve often found wine bottles tend to be much heavier than they need to be. But the interesting part is the t-cork stopper change.

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2026/ ... unnoticed/

Just watched the video, cool old pictures, just wish they hadn’t AI-ed them into motion though.


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[Roy Hersh]

I am in possession of the new bottles of Taylor and Croft. Yes, there is a difference, but if I had not read the article Andy shared, I'd never have noticed. But taking one of these newly bottled Ports and put it side-by-side, I don't notice much visibly except a few mm of height. Picking them up, yes slightly lighter.

I know how Adrian is concerned with environmental issues and has been a leader in the wine world when it comes to sustainability and I am talking about other ways outside of just viticulturally. I believe that trumps his penchant for cost savings, but I am sure that weighs into the picture but not the primary goal. Just a nice bonus, outcome.