Sustainable Wine Roundtables (SWR) has announced an international agreement to lower the average weight of bottles they sell in an aim to lighten up wine.

Some of the signatories to SWR’s Bottle Weight Accord – which include Lidl, Waitrose, Whole Foods Market and a number of leading drinks retailers from across the globe – already regulate the weight of their wine bottles.

Yet the London-based coalition of wineries, distributors and retailers’ agreement will see retailers reduce the weight of bottles they sell from 500 grams to below 420 grams by the end of 2026.

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The figures, which apply to the standard 750-millimetre bottles, will also include supplier producers and not just the weight of ‘own-brand’ labels.

“From an environmental perspective, the benefits of lighter bottles are significant,” the SWR report said.

“The proposed reduction in bottle weights from a current average of about 550 grams to the proposed 420 grams represents a more than 25 percent saving in carbon emissions.”