Champagne produced by Hollywood A-lister and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio is going green – in every sense of the word.
The star’s French vineyard has announced it will begin releasing its Telmont bubbles in bottles of varying shades of green in order to be more eco-friendly, with 193,000 bottles due to go on sale in every colour from green to cinnamon this year.
The plan is to make use of the considerable amount of glass that normally gets discarded as bottle-making furnaces switch between colours.
Traditionally, like most French wine, Champagne is kept in green bottles, as this was the natural colour achieved by higher-strength glass, and also has the advantage of protecting the liquid from light which can adversely effect flavours.
However, Ludovic du Plessis, the President of Telmont, explained that green represents their dedication to environmentalism.
‘Every shade of green is a symbol of our commitment to the environment. We’re not just changing the colour of our wine bottles, we’re trying to transform the wine industry one shade at a time in the name of Mother Nature.
‘This is a new step forward for our House and for the ecological transition. Thanks to this new innovative approach, which is based on the expertise of Verallia, the European leader in glass packaging, energy and resources will be saved. It is therefore a more virtuous mode of production with regard to environmental issues.’
Climate Positive Champagne
DiCaprio acquired an equity stake in the wine producer, based near Epernay, northern France, in 2022, attracted by its environmental credentials.
Telmont, which is available in the UAE at African and Eastern, intends to become the first ‘climate-positive’ Champagne house by the end of the decade
In possession of an organic certificate since 2017, it plans fully to convert the vineyards to organic by 2025.
It has already invented the lightest Champagne bottle in history, weighing 800g, around 35g lighter than standard bottles, eliminated unnecessary packaging and stopped exporting its bottles via air.
Axing gift boxes reduces a bottle’s carbon footprint by eight per cent, according to Du Plessis. He told industry publication Just Drinks: ‘People told me, “You are going to lose sales.” Two years after, I can tell you it’s double-digit growth in terms of volume, in terms of sales. It’s been crazy.
‘It’s just a question about education – education of the retailer, to tell him our project, to tell him our philosophy, and these guys love it. Even in Japan, where they are geeks of gift boxes, they said, “No, OK, we understand. We’re going to spread the good word.”.’
DiCaprio has always been a supporter of sustainability and backed many rewilding and animal conservation programmes.
Accepting his Academy Award for The Revenant in 2016, he said: ‘Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.’
