Faced with rising glass prices, winegrowers fear a future shortage of bottles

Will we soon run out of bottles of wine? Not content, no, but container. Glass has become very expensive and supply disruptions cannot be ruled out. Winegrowers are now crossing their fingers to receive their bottles on time.

In the Beaujolais cellar of Jean-Marc Burgaud, the pallets of empty bottles are currently accumulating, because the winemaker knew how to be far-sighted. He placed the order early enough: “At the beginning of January, I was told that it would be a bit difficult. Bottle prices rose 13.5% on January 1 and 26% on April 1. A bottle was worth 28 cents, today it is worth 35 cents.”

Due to the increase in raw material prices but also the war in Ukraine, glass is more expensive while the cost of packaging boxes has also soared. The price of wine is likely to suffer, according to professionals, unless it simply runs out, for lack of containers. DSupply disruptions cannot be ruled out. The winegrowers today fear that they will run out of bottles to pour their wine into in the coming weeks.

“The rosé season begins and some winegrowers are very annoyed because they cannot supply their usual market.“, explains to franceinfo Éric Pastorino, the president of the interprofession of the wines of Provence.

“If we were sure to have bottles within three weeks, that would reassure our customers.

Éric Pastorino, President of the Provençal Wines Interprofession

at franceinfo

Currently, we lack visibility, resumes Eric Pastorino. Bottle manufacturers indicate that, faced with the threat of shortages, their factories are currently running continuously. They also explain that the surge in prices cannot be blamed on them because it is explained by the price of Russian gas, necessary to heat the glass furnaces to more than 1,300 degrees.