Wilridge Winery is Seattle’s oldest continuously operating winery, established just over two decades ago by partners Paul Beveridge and Lysle Wilhelmi. Paul says they’re striving to be the greenest in Washington State, and they make good on that pledge with organic, biodynamic farming, solar-generated electricity at the vineyard site, and a positive vision of a sustainable future.
Michael Cawdrey, Fremont Wine Warehouse, with Maison
Another endeavor—recently launched but years in the making—is Wilridge’s reusable Maison, a 1.5-liter bottle that you buy once and bring back to exchange for refills. The bottle is extra heavy duty, and designed to withstand years of use and abuse. Maison can be refilled with a red blend, white blend, or rotating red (currently Barbera) at the Bottlehouse wine store above the winery, and is also available at The Tasting Room (downtown Seattle, near Pike Place Market), and Fremont Wine Warehouse (where I first ran across it). Maison costs around $20 to refill ($10 per 750ml-bottle equivalent), plus a one-time $8 deposit for the bottle and (also reusable) stopper.
Maison is significant for a number of reasons. First, it’s obviously gentler on the Earth to wash a wine bottle and reuse it instead of making a new one or recycling an old one (which still takes significant energy to collect, sort, melt down, remove impurities, remold, and transport). Most wine bottles are in nearly perfect condition after you buy them and drain them, so why throw them away?
Second, Maison resurrects a treasured European tradition of a house wine. In many European countries, and finally gaining a little steam in this country, you can bring a jug to a store or restaurant and get it filled affordably with an everyday drinking wine. That’s what I call culture!
Finally, Maison is the fruit of more than two years of hard work overcoming legal hurdles, and it opens the door to other exciting opportunities in this wine-backwards state of ours. Wilridge is to be heartily congratulated for making Maison possible, and all of the other innovations in refillable bottles and keg wine that follow. Call that one giant leap forward in the name of wine freedom!
Wilridge Winery / 1416 34th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122 / 206-325-3051 / wilridgewinery.com / Bottlehouse (1416 – 34th Avenue in the Madrona neighborhood) / The Tasting Room (1924 Post Alley in Pike Place Market) / Fremont Wine Warehouse (3601 Fremont Ave. in the courtyard)
Jo said,
December 18, 2010 at 6:02 pm
That is very cool! I love the idea of refilling my own bottle. A-J