The Mentzendorff Portfolio Tasting was recently held at 1 Great George Street, London; the theme of this year’s tasting was sustainability and the topic was explored in depth at a seminar and panel discussion chaired by Peter Richards MW and featuring a selection of speakers from across the Mentzendorff Portfolio, including Denis Bunner – Champagne Bollinger, Federico Ceretto – owner, Anthony Hamilton Russell of Hamilton Russell Vineyards, Andrew Donaldson – founder of Akitu from New Zealand’s Central Otago and Adrian Bridge CEO of the Fladgate Partnership. The panel discussed the measures they are taking in their respective businesses to become more sustainable and the difficulties they face in doing so. The floor was then opened for questions, prompting a lively debate. Whilst not all the speakers were in agreement on every specific point there was resounding agreement that education and discussion on the subject in the trade, particularly in the trade press, would pave the way for positive change in the wine industry.

The role of agents/distributors was also highlighted as being a key part of any truly sustainable supply chain and Mentzendorff also announced a new partnership with “Flexi-Hex”, a new biodegradable packaging solution to prevent damage to glass bottles in transit. Launched in 2018 the Flexi-Hex system, with its patent pending design and distinctive honeycomb structure, is simply cardboard but innovatively designed to add both strength and flexibility whilst removing the need for single use plastic in bottle packaging.