Flakon and the environment
The question of environmental sustainability is topical and worries many: whether on an individual scale or on a company scale, ecological responsibility has become a major priority in consumer behavior. It has also become a primary value of many companies which affirm their desire to be committed to sustainability and respect for the environment for both ethical and strategic reasons.
Flakon is no exception: our values are based around learning about wine and like our partner winegrowers, we have observed and learned what irresponsible, intensive and unbridled viticulture can lead to. Like our partner winegrowers, we have seen the infinitely more qualitative fruits of working the vines with respect for the terroir and the vines. We want you to discover a heritage rooted in quality rather than quantity, rooted in the respect for nature that a profession born from the perfect harmony between the gifts of the earth and the talents of the winemaker requires.
Our winegrowers: a tradition that demands respect for the vine
We work with 22 partner domains, all with an incredible diversity of backgrounds and scales. But none the less remains an invariant: everyone has a love of the viticultural and wine-making tradition. However, this tradition is not compatible with agricultural intensity: to get the most out of the grapes, you must not ask too much of them.
This is also a reality specific to French wine: quality is firstly guaranteed by an appellation which is restricted for the most prestigious to very small and very protected areas. We cannot exhaust land through intensive exploitation, otherwise the name risks disappearing. We cannot extend the vines outside either because then the climate and the terroir change, and so does the appellation. Naturally, French viticulture is not overexploited, at least not in quality terroirs, precisely to guarantee the sustainability of this quality.
Our winegrowers practice at least 86% sustainable agriculture in terms of labels. In fact, this translates into respect for the biotope of their domains and by working in synergy with it, non-intensive production with a preference for fertilizers and phytosanitary products of natural origin, and manual labor privileged to avoid pollution and damage to ecosystems (stone removal, grassing, harvests, etc.). All demonstrate their desire for a gradual transition towards the most responsible viticulture possible and 20% are already labeled organic or biodynamic.
Furthermore, the 3 estates which do not present any responsible label do not necessarily practice unreasonable viticulture: they are small independent producers, keen to offer quality wines, respectful of their vines but who cannot yet afford to invest enough to obtain demanding labels for their implementation.
Click here to discover our wines and their particularities!
Bottles: a saving of 30% in material
The bottles we use to store wine are made of much thinner glass than that used for traditional bottles. And even if this thickness has the advantage of greater strength, a volume of conventional wine of 75cL will require 500 grams of material while our bottles, to contain this same quantity, will only require 350 grams of glass.
To find out more about the bottles, click here!
Boxes: 100% recyclable decorative objects
We designed our boxes with the idea that they would be kept as decorative objects, just like you keep an empty bottle of quality whiskey and its packaging box. Both satisfaction of the collector and memory of the enthusiast, our boxes are dedicated to you so that you can keep them. And if ever (if ever) you want to get rid of them (much to our dismay), they are completely recyclable since they are 100% cardboard.
Protective packaging: don’t throw anything away!
You don't know what to do with the breakage-proof packaging and cardboard? Don't throw them away! Recycle your boxes and packaging to create a makeshift cellar (assuming that you have the cellar or garage but not the storage). Take your boxes (which can normally contain a bottle), preferably place them off the ground, on a pallet or a set of pallets for example. Place a large flattened piece of cardboard on top and attach it to the pallet. Glue the individual boxes there, flat, with the openings all facing the same side. Then make a second row above the first, staggered to stabilize the structure (like a stack of rubble stones on a wall). Also glue this row, and glue all the concomitant cardboards together, not just to the row below. You should ultimately end up with a pyramidal cardboard structure with one alcove per bottle, protected in the anti-breakage packaging. Place it against a wall to avoid unpleasant surprises (dry, the wall).
If you have more bottles than alcoves, which is likely unless you have a lot of individual boxes or if you bought a lot of Flakon boxes (thanks to you), put in your cardboard cellar (no pun intended ), the wines that you will consume first (those whose aging potential is not far from peak in particular) and leave those that need to age in their cases or boxes. So ! No waste like that!
