About

Questions from our Consumers

I always purchase your 187ml bottles of Sutter Home. I noticed the last time I went to the store that they are now being bottled in plastic. Why did you change the bottle?

Sutter Home Winery made the decision to switch to plastic bottles because of its ongoing efforts to become more environmentally friendly. The new bottles weigh 1/6th the weight of the glass bottles. The new bottles are much smaller than the previous bottles, which mean you get the same amount of wine in a smaller and less wasteful bottle—the older, bigger bottles had 187mL of wine and the new smaller bottles have 187mL of wine.

Sutter Home worked with packaging supplier, Ball Corp., to develop the best bottle for our Sutter Home Wines. All of the plastic bottles are lined with Plasmax SiOx glass lining, so the wine is never actually touching the plastic! It is only touching glass. The glass lining is so thin that it is not detectable by the human eye but it is still entirely recyclable.  Also, producing the new bottles generates 60% fewer greenhouse gasses than producing the glass bottles.

Finally, the PET Sutter Home bottles can be enjoyed poolside and outdoors and the new plastic packaging makes this possible.

---

 Is it safe to drink wine from plastic bottles? I heard that if plastic gets too hot, it will leach toxins into the wine.

The plastic bottles used for bottling Sutter Home 187ml wines is made from PET (polyethylene terphthalate) which is one of the highest quality plastics available for consumer food and beverage products. Although many people think that PET bottles can leach chemicals when left in high temperature situations, there is no scientific evidence that this is true and is unsubstantiated by any credible evidence.

---

Does PET contain Bis-phenol A?
There is no connection between PET plastic and Bis-phenol A.  Bis-phenol A is not used in the production of PET material, nor is it used as a chemical building block for any of the materials used in the manufacture of PET. Bis-phenol A is used to make polycarbonate, which is a different plastic from PET.

---

Do I need to worry about phthalates in PET?
No. "Phthalates" (pronounced THA-lates) are a class of chemicals that include three subsets, each with different properties. PET or polyethylene terephthalate belongs to one of these phthalate subsets, but not the one most commonly associated with the term.

Orthophthalate is the phthalate subset most commonly referenced and discussed in popular literature and on internet sites; it has been the subject of some negative press. Often used to make various plastics more flexible, this type of phthalate is also called a plasticizer.

PET does not contain plasticizers or orthophthalates. Plasticizers are never substituted for terephthalates used in the manufacturer of PET, nor are the two ever mixed.

PET packaging is selected by companies for a wide variety of product applications because it is safe, strong, shatter-proof, and recyclable.

---

Where do I send my capsules for Sutter Home for Hope?
Collect your capsule from any Sutter Home wine and send them in between August 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009 and we will donate $1.00 per capsule towards finding a cure.
Please mail all capsules to:
CMS
Sutter Home for Hope
Offer # SHFH08
PO BOX 426008
Del Rio, TX 78842-6008

---

Do you use egg or milk products in your wine?

We do occasionally use casein products, which are derived from milk, in our wines.  However, we don't use egg products for fining.  Since the process may vary from vintage to vintage, we do not provide such information on a varietal basis. 

You may want to consult your family physician regarding your children's allergies and if he/she can recommend any wines that would be safe for consumption.