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Two days didn't feel like enough to check out all of the great wine packaging suppliers at the 2010 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, but I did my best, and here are five that piqued my interest.

I've had some experience with packaging wine in plastic--and there is a steep learning curve, but a lot of research and time has been spent in creating PET alternatives to glass packaging and now, after virtually taking over the 187ml market, they are poised take a stab at 750ml & 1L. Two companies stood out at Unified:

Ball

Long a large player in the soda and water bottle market, Ball has leveraged their knowledge and tackled the challenge of wine packaging. Their bottles, ranging from 187ml to 1L in both Burg. and Bord. styles, look clean and almost indistinguishable from glass when full (right until you pick them up). They also use an internal coating process (KHS Plasmax, deposits a nano-thickness layer of glass inside the bottle) that greatly extends the shelf life of a package (and also doesn't degrade before filling, unlike other oxygen scavengers).

EnVino

EnVino, a startup in the Bay Area, offers a similar range to Ball, but they have the added advantage of being situated close to major producers in the wine business. They focus heavily on the green factor, citing 52% less greenhouse gas emission, 53% less air pollution, 77% less water consumption than a glass counterpart. Also, due to their lighter weight, more PET bottles can be shipped on a truck--saving money and emissions.

Green labels are great, but what about the price?

Technicote, a pressure sensitive converter, has done something pretty cool, they've taken their 100% post consumer waste paper stock (which is wet strength) and made it the same price as their regular stock. This takes away one of the main disadvantages of moving labels to a greener pasture. From what I saw, it was fairly white (another complaint is that recycled stocks tend to be gray). I haven't had any feedback on performance, yet, but at this price hopefully more wineries will adopt it and give it a try.

How many bottles do you waste checking O2?

Nomacorc, a well-established player in the synthetic cork market, has introduced a new tool for measuring O2 pickup in wine, the NomaSense. A description from their website:

For post-bottling oxygen measurement, the process begins when sensor dots attached to a wine bottle are activated by a blue light and transmitted through a fiber optic wand. The sensor dot responds by emitting a red light, which indicates the relative presence of dissolved oxygen in the wine. The analyzer translates the strength of the red light to a specific oxygen concentration level. Placing a sensor dot in the neck of the wine bottle allows the analyzer to measure gaseous oxygen in the bottle headspace. The same process applies when using dipping probes or sight glasses to measure oxygen during earlier phases of wine production.

(Click here for  much more detailed explanation.)

If you've ever conducted a cork trial, testing out how different closures work, you'll appreciate not having to bottle multiple cases of wine just to have enough to open for the next 18-24 months. I don't know the price--but I imagine for larger wineries it would pay for itself easily.

Give a helping hand and get the job done.

An old supplier friend of mine is working for a new company, WineBev Services. A venture of United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay, WineBev Services gives adults with disabilities the opportunity for meaningful, paid work. They offer a whole range of services, from repacks, to relabeling and are conveniently located in Napa. With their 12,000 sq ft bonded warehouse, they are an option to bringing in a crew and doing a large rework job in house.