How Château Guilhem near Limoux made its bottles eco-friendly

ertrand Gourdou, the owner of Château Guilhem in Malviès, near Limoux in southern France, farms his vineyards organically. In a webinar hosted by the Languedoc wine marketing board, he offered details of his policy of using local supplies for dry goods. “We produce 250,000 bottles a year. Since the end of 2019, the packaging has been made from materials 100% sourced in Occitania, less than 100 km from the estate. We work with companies based in Narbonne, Lézignan-Corbières, Castelnaudary, Portet-sur-Garonne, and Albi for the farthest away”.

Gourdou has chosen to keep just one bottle format, as compared with a dozen in the past. “The same is true for the closures and the boxes. By standardising the packaging, I was able to ensure economies of scale. Despite inflation, I have only seen my costs increase by 18%”.

Catherine Montahuc, the winemaker and head of production at Château Guilhem, explains that the conical 600g Bordeaux bottle was replaced by a long Burgundy bottle made from recycled and recyclable glass, which only weighs 410g. “We saved 25 tonnes of glass a year, 1.6 kg per box and 180 kg per pallet”, she says with obvious pride.

The team chose an FSC-sourced natural closure. “We also opted for labels made from recycled and recyclable paper with a white background and no colour markings or gilding”. For the boxes, Château Guilhem works with Goe-Service. “It has an automatic bottom that does not need tape. It comes from French forests and is stamped with ink containing no solvents”.

Château Guilhem has done away with the aluminium and plastic capsule. “We got in touch with the customs authorities and now produce a simplified accompanying administrative document every time we ship wine to the trade in France”, explains Montahuc. “When we sell to private customers, we only need the sales receipt from the cellar door”.

The approach has been extremely well received by consumers. “We have even been contacted by new wine merchants and by super/hypermarkets for their in-store wine festivals”.