Tensions, prices and lead times are running high for glass bottle supplies

It’s unbearable!” Jean-Jacques Bréban, head of Provence trading company Bréban wines, chairman of the French sparkling wine organisation, and former chairman of the Provence wine marketing board, is visibly angered by supply chain issues with glass bottles. “After a disastrous year in 2022 for glass supplies, we thought – though were not really convinced – that 2023 could be better. But once again we see that orders placed may well not be honoured, or have lead times that are too long”, says Bréban, who fills 9 to 10 million bottles a year.

Luc Flache, director of the Estabel co-operative winery, which markets one million bottles of Cabrières wines in Hérault, Southern France, cites “variable increases ranging from 25 to 40% in the price of bottles depending on the product lines”. Aside from the price hikes, he has also been forced to deal with lack of supplies for his specific transparent flute format. “It was already challenging for this product line in 2022, which accounts for two thirds of my bottles of rosé wine, and we were told that it would be impossible to take delivery before the second quarter of this year. I had to find an alternative with a similar style from another supplier, but at a cost. It was 45% more than the price of my usual supplier, who was already up by 30% for 2023!”

Flache knows he is lucky in that having his own bottling facilities allows him to remain proactive, but to keep up with production, he and his team have had to focus as much as possible on forward-planning and store a lot of empty bottles. “We have had to create more space and the storage area is 50% fuller than before, with the inevitable impact on cash flow caused by these inventories”, says Flache. Like many, he has also had to switch some product lines from transparent to coloured bottles to service markets that he would otherwise have lost.