Support wineries with a simple gesture.
Photo courtesy of Cardinal Point Winery
Co-op relationship manager Brianna Saby and her daughter, Maya, fulfill orders at Cardinal Point Winery.
If you ordered Virginia wines online during the coronavirus lockdown, you probably also felt a bit guilty for tossing all those sturdy, completely reusable cardboard boxes and Styrofoam into the dumpster. You’re not alone—online wine purchases soared this spring. Some wineries jumped from shipping a couple of boxes a week to more than 10 or 15 every day. That’s a lot of landfill.
But there’s good news for our guilty conscience: Turns out, many wineries want those boxes back. “Everyone is shipping more, thanks to our amazing supporters of Virginia wine,” says Sarah Gorman of Cardinal Point Winery in Afton. “Shipping materials are quite pricey, and when a winery offers wine discounts as well as reduced or free shipping, we definitely feel the cost.”
Maggie Malick of Maggie Malick Wine Caves in Purcellville says they’re currently paying anywhere from $3 to $7 per wine order just for the shipping supplies. Other wineries say they can pay as much as $12 for one case box.
Many wineries are happy to take back shipping materials from any winery; it doesn’t have to be their own. Says Malick, “Shipping boxes are pretty standard. If you can remove the labels, great! But some of them are tough to remove. Anything we can't cover, we obliterate with a large black Sharpie. I will gladly take shipping containers in good condition. Next time you visit, bring them along. Just let us know you have shipping boxes, and we'll gladly take them off your hands. After all, less waste in the landfill is a good thing, right?”
Cardinal Point Winery has a drop-off point for returned boxes and packing materials. All items are placed in a plastic bin, sprayed with sanitizing solution, and left outside for at least 24 hours. “The opportunity to ship wine has been a blessing to our industry [during COVID-19],” says Gorman. “It’s truly saved us.”
For a list of more than 30 wineries across the state that reuse wine shipping materials, visit VirginiaWineInMyPocket.com/Blog. If you don’t see your local winery on the list, just ask them.
