For The Love Of Port

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/

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.

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!

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.

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.

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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Andy Velebil wrote: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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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.