A boutique estate in the mountains of Sir Lowry’s Pass Village in the Helderberg basin, in the Western Cape, called Journey’s End Vineyards, together with new wine brand Interpunkt, have launched a pioneering range of wines in sustainable paperboard bottles.

The sustainable wine packaging is a first for South Africa and will soon be available in select Checkers, Checkers Hyper and Checkers LiquorShop stores.

The sauvignon blanc and shiraz wine range has a reduced impact on the environment, being 100% recyclable and five times lighter than a normal glass bottle.

Interpunkt has also endeavoured to make the two wines more engaging, accessible and inclusive, by removing the specialist and potentially intimidating language that is often used on wine labels.

Instead, the wines are simply described as “fresh and zesty” and “juicy and easy drinking”, respectively.

Interpunkt founder Andrew Ingham believes consumers come first and should be offered delicious and sustainable wines without the fuss.

“All too often wine brands are talking and selling to one group of consumers only – the ‘wine engaged’. Yet, the biggest group of wine drinkers, about 68%, are new to wine, occasional wine drinkers or unengaged.

“By introducing wine drinkers to a new accessible brand in forward-thinking packaging, I believe we can show people that good wine is for everyone,” he explains, adding that Interpunkt only uses trusted, ethically and sustainably sourced grapes.

It is for this reason that Interpunkt chose to partner with Journey’s End, which is not only known for its excellent wines and acclaimed winemakers, but also for its sustainable and ethical accreditations.

Journey’s End has twice won the Ethical Company of the Year award, in 2020 and 2021, at The Drinks Business Green Awards, which is convened by the UK liquor trade magazine.

Journey’s End, with its carbon negative operations, is also a founding member of Sustainable Wine Roundtable.

MD Rollo Gabb says it was not easy to find a bottler who was prepared to take on the challenge of paperboard bottles, slow the lines down and adapt their equipment, but the right partner has been found and all parties are “raring to go".