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While consumers took years to adjust to the Stelvin screw cap on wine bottles, the transition to alternative packaging seems to be going a little faster. Undoubtedly, the wider acceptance of more environmentally friendly packaging has something to do with it.

The AstraPouch was first developed and launched in South Africa in 2008, but the company is growing quickly in the U.S.

Not only is the pouch a superior way to maintain freshness, it’s great for shippers too. One truckload of empty AstraPouch packages is equal to 14 truckloads of empty glass bottles.

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In an industry steeped in traditions, Ryan Donnelly, co-founder of Home Team Wines (Sonoma, CA) aims to expand the ways Americans enjoy wine. Along with Home Team Wines’ other founder, Lane Shackleton, and X Winery’s (Napa,CA) founder and head winemaker Reed Renaudin,Donnelly launched the Bluebird Wine Pouch.

The collaboration’s  rst offering in the standup pouch is a Pinot Noir that the company describes as a full-bodied, spicy, Burgundy-style red. Placing a better quality wine in the standup pouch was important to Donnelly, because he wants to revolutionize where and how good wine is drunk—not replicate the lower-end experiences offered by some bag-in-box wines.

He was looking specifically to make something worthy of drinking on a “bluebird day”: an idiom originally used by ski enthusiasts to describe a sunny day after a fresh snowfall. Bluebird’s target market—Millennials with active lifestyles—has grown the phrase’s meaning to describe any day filled with simple pleasures.

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The AstraPouch contains the equivalent of two bottles of wine in a lightweight, recyclable, collapsible container – perfect for those of us who enjoy adventure but still savor the taste of wine.

Both Trestle Creek Riesling and Trestle Creek Chardonnay now come in the AstraPouch. They can be ordered on-line or find them at area liquor stores.

Click here to watch a video of AstraPouches being filled at Glenora Wine Cellars.

Not convinced yet? Replacing heavy glass bottles and bulky bag in box packaging, the light weight AstraPouch is a durable, convenient and eco-friendly way to bring wine and spirits to the consumer market. Here are the facts:

• - The filled AstraPouch is 98 percent wine and only 2 percent packaging by weight
• - The 1.5L AstraPouch has an 80% lower carbon footprint than two bottles of wine
• - 1 truck load of empty AstraPouch equals 14 truck loads of empty glass bottles
• - Chills fast, 14 minutes in the AstraPouch versus 40 minutes in a glass, using less energy
• - Resealable and stays fresh for up to one month after opening
• - No cork waste
• - Avoids the “no glass at beach” rule

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They are now back in vogue in the United States where at least three U.S. wineries are offering wines in high tech foil pouches that resemble children’s fruit drinks – only for adults.

Glenora Winery in New York and the Clif Family Winery and Farm in California’s Napa Valley use the pouches for wines from their vineyards, while Indulge, a start-up based in Santa Barbara, California is selling its wines, made from Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir grapes sourced from growers in California, in the containers.

“We use it for our Riesling and Chardonnay. It’s the same wine as you’ll find in the bottles and it’s really good quality,” said Glenora’s winemaker Steve DiFrancesco, adding the pouches flew off shelves when they appeared last summer.

The pouches, made in South Africa by AstraPouch, take half as long to chill as a bottle, weigh much less, and will keep the 1.5 liters, the equivalent of two regular-size bottles, of wine they contain fresh for a month after they’ve been open, DiFrancesco said.

Clif, which also produces the energy snack of the same name, put a karabiner, or metal loop, on the pouch and added it to its line of Climber wines, which include California Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, organic wines also available in bottles.

“It’s easy to pack in and pack out. It rolls into this tiny ball,” said Linzi Gay, the winery’s general manager. “It’s the perfect way to take wine into the woods to go camping or hiking.”

Indulge winery’s owner Pierre LaBarge said its 2009 Pinot Noir and its 2009 Sauvignon Blanc are the first vintage it is selling in the pouches.

“I was looking to make a great value wine and I was looking for an environmentally friendly package,” LaBarge explained. “This weights only 1.5 oz (44 ml) and it reduces the carbon footprint by 85 percent.

“I don’t believe someone should have to pay just for convenience or to be environmental,” said the 30-year-old winemaker. “These are world class wines in this package.”

Wineries in Australia, Europe and South Africa have been using the pouches for several years, according to Dave Moynihan, president of AstraPouch North America.

Patrick McGovern, head of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, told National Geographic that the first wine-tasting may have occurred during the Paleolithic age when humans drank the juices of naturally fermented wild grapes from animal-skin pouches.

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The pouches, profiled in Wines & Vines’ May packaging issue, already have made a splash in Europe. Like Glenora’s wines, they are a New York product from AstraPouch North America in Penfield.

They provide the protective and eco-friendly advantages of bag-in-box — but without the box. A 1.5L pouch measures about 7 inches wide by 10 inches tall, and a slender 2-inches thick when filled with the equivalent of two standard 750ml bottles. Their transportation footprint is light, too: 98% wine to 2% package by weight. They are, according to AstraPouch president Dave Moynahan, multi-layered plastic, with a one-way spigot to keep oxygen out.

Glenora president Gene Pierce, who pioneered the Seneca Lake region when he founded the winery in 1977, told Wines & Vines that Moynahan came to him late last year in search of an established winery with a good reputation that would be willing to try the AstraPouches in the U.S. market. Glenora, named 2009 Winery of the Year by Tasters Guild International, fit the bill.

Pierce invested in a special machine that holds the pouches, removes the spigot, fills the containers and replaces the spigots. He is now in the process of bagging the equivalent of 4,000 cases of Riesling at the winery, which produces a total of 55,000 cases annually. “We’re taking it slow and easy,” he said, packaging the equivalent of about 500 cases per day on the new equipment. “It’s challenging not to say ‘bottling,’” he admitted.

The first release will be distributed in New York state through Empire Merchants North, and the pouches also will be available at the tasting room, a nice bonus for potential picnickers in the scenic Finger Lakes. The pouches, said Glenora’s administrative manager, Kerry Keller, “chill faster and stay fresh.” Their light weight, compact size and durability make them inviting options for backpackers and boaters.

Pierce hopes the package will find enough consumer (and retailer) acceptance for him to add a second packaging machine. “Our next product will be a Chardonnay,” he said. “We have limited distribution in two or three other states, and we’re looking for interest. If it turns out as we hope, we’ll be looking for broader distribution.”

As with screwcaps, bag-in-box, TetraPak and other innovations, with success comes imitation. “I welcome competition,” Pierce said, recalling the wine industry since Glenora’s solitary early days on Seneca Lake, which is now home to more than 100 wineries. “We like competition. It raises the bar for everyone.” The AstraPouch, he said, “is a great way for us to come out with a new package, and give the Finger Lakes and Glenora some successful notoriety.”

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