Glass packaging from Vetropack has helped Château Purcari’s Moldovan wines to win many prizes all over the world
As exclusive supplier and strategic partner to the Purcari Wineries Group, Vetropack provides premium bottles for the renowned Negru de Purcari vintages and lightweight glass packaging for the new ‘Native’ organic wines – along with an extensive range of different containers for Vetropack’s successful growing spirits portfolio.
Wine has been grown in Moldova for almost five thousand years. The mild climate, influenced by the nearby Black Sea, often evokes comparisons with France’s famous Bordeaux region; Moldova also has a very diverse range of fertile soils – Purcari alone has over 25 types on its terrain.
A special partnership for a special wine
The listed Purcari Wineries Group currently operates five production platforms in Moldova, Romania, and (most recently) Bulgaria, comprising four wineries and one brandy distillery.
In 2021, Château Purcari won more awards than any other winery in the world, and this producer continues to attract attention from global wine experts. Vetropack – one of the leading European glass packaging manufacturer – supplies over 40 different types of glass container for Purcari’s various product lines, reaching an overall volume of 17 to 25 million units per year.
Catalina Turcanu, Senior Brand Manager at Purcari Wineries Group, explained: “Thanks to local support from Vetropack, our logistics are more sustainable, we have access to packaging know-how, and we benefit from a shared understanding of our company’s growth.”
Local, innovative, and sustainable
Château Purcari is the flagship company of the Purcari Wineries Group. Its wines are produced in accordance with the strictest requirements of French viniculture. They are made exclusively from hand-picked grapes, using traditional processing methods. The young wine passes through various stages of work in the cellar such as cooling, filtering and fermentation before it is matured in French oak barrels for at least 18 months.
Vetropack supplies 90 percent of the glass for the Purcari Wineries Group. Château Purcari alone purchases glass packaging for a total of 22 product lines, including different bottles for the four main wine categories: Reserve, Limited Edition, 1827 Collection, and Sparkling.
When Vetropack acquired the nearby glassworks at Chișinău in 2020, the partnership was broadened to embrace a truly European perspective focusing on innovation and sustainability. With its two glass furnaces, Vetropack Chișinău offers the flexibility to produce a diverse range of glass packaging in two different colours.
“The move from Italy (where our bottles were produced before) to Moldova opened up opportunities for us to collaborate much more closely. Thanks to local support from Vetropack, our logistics are more sustainable, we have access to packaging know-how, and we benefit from a shared understanding of our company’s growth. […] New bottles embossed with ‘1827’, the year of our foundation, were created in 2020 for the Reserve, Main and Limited Edition series – and they have definitely helped us to reach the very top of the rankings. The bottles play a crucial role in the premium segment because they underscore the complexity of the wine,” Catalina Turcanu added.
Glass packaging benefits premium and organic wines
The Purcari Wineries Group is continuing its growth trajectory, with new products launched almost every year and Vetropack supplying unique and sustainable bottles to bring these wines to the market.
“Having such a flexible partner is a superb asset – not least when it comes to sustainability. We generally aim to make the bottles lighter so as to reduce the impact on the environment,” Turcanu explained.
Purcari ‘Native’ is a new limited-edition collection of wines. To carry out a product test in the region, Vetropack began by supplying a provisional glass packaging. ‘Native’ has already won a Grand Gold medal at Mundus Vini 2023; now that sales are expanding into the EU and beyond, these wines will be sold in a new lighter bottle – also supplied by Vetropack.
Thanks to an improved production process, the new lighter glass from Vetropack saves resources throughout the value chain without compromising on quality or robustness. For a typical 750-ml wine bottle weighing 400 grams, the weight reduction is 50 grams – so materials are saved and the process generates fewer CO2 emissions. And as an added benefit, Purcari Native is delivered in sustainable transport boxes.
Victor Bostan, Founder and General Manager of Château Purcari added: “We are proud to have achieved such magnificent results! As our strategic partner for packaging, Vetropack has played a major part in this remarkable success story. We will continue our joint efforts to promote Moldova and its rich wine culture throughout the world – showing that these quality wines are created with great care and passion, by people who are absolutely devoted to their work.”
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Purcari Wineries Group is a leading player in the wine and brandy segments in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. The Group manages circa 1,450 hectares of vineyards and operates five production platforms in Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria, four of which are dedicated to wine production using grapes from own vineyards and from third-party suppliers and one dedicated to brandy production.
Vetropack Group is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of glass packaging for the food and beverage industry. Vetropack has state-of-the-art production facilities as well as sales and distribution offices in Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Italy, the Republic of Moldova and Romania. They enable people to enjoy food and beverages as safely as possible by providing solutions that combine optimum elegance with maximum responsibility. Guided by an understanding of environmental responsibility and cost efficiency, Vetropack aims to minimise their carbon footprint throughout the supply chain, and is committed to recycling as the key to optimising product life-cycles.
