Why We Recycle/Repurpose Wine Bottles

Why We Recycle/Repurpose Wine Bottles

And….

Why No One Else Does!

As of this week, October 2019, ‘Bunker Hill Vineyard & Winery (BHV)’ crossed an historic threshold; we (you & us) have recycled/repurposed over 100,000 wine bottles! There was no media fanfare nor parades nor bells and whistles; we expected none. Through our grassroots efforts, what we (you & us) have accomplished is way more than any other winery in the U.S.A. has been able or willing to achieve. With the following factoid gems, we will attempt to put this huge accomplishment into perspective.

We (you & us) have helped to reduce mining waste by over 7,000 pounds!

We (you & us) have helped to reduce air pollution by over

500 pounds!

We (you & us) have helped to save enough electricity to operate over 33,000 TV sets for over 1 hour each!

We (you & us) have helped to save enough electricity to power 100 watts of home lighting for 100,000 homes!

Additionally, we (you & us) have helped to reduce BHV’s carbon footprint, upon our shared environment, by over 60%!

Our march will continue to go on and we (you & us) will continue to care deeply about the world around us and all of our friends and neighbors.

Every year in the U.S.A., we go through approx. 350,000 million cases of wine; about 4 billion wine bottles are dumped into our landfills and forgotten. Because wine bottles are inorganic (glass), it takes almost 1 million years for each one to decompose. So, why isn’t every winery in Florida and the U.S.A. recycling and repurposing their own wine bottles?

For the first five years that BHV was open, we took in the empty wine bottles from every other Florida winery and cleaned, sanitized and repurposed them. The hope was that we could lead by example and encourage them to join us, and together, Florida could set a recycling example for the nation; this never happened. Today, we no longer accept wine bottles from any other Florida winery. If you patronize any other

Florida winery, you should return their empty wine bottles to them for them recycle.

One final note, even though BHV is the Greenest Winery in America and is 100% recycled on wine bottles, we are not alone in the world. Every winery of every country in Europe recycles their empty wine bottles a minimum of 9 times!

Again, Thank You, for all your help and support…BHV!

The Green Winer!

‘Paid’ Internship Programs

‘Paid’ Internship Programs

To graduate, most colleges require a student to complete an internship program; our local University of South Florida campuses, included. 

As the ‘Greenest Winery in America’ BHV has participated in and supported these internships for years. We believe that sharing our knowledge with the youth of today will help insure a successful future for both the student and for our community. If you own and operate a successful local business, we encourage you to contact the University campus nearest to you and become a member of their internship program.

With this Blog, we hope to open a dialog about how college interns are compensated for their time and contributions to the hosting business. Today, some businesses like BHV offer ‘Paid’ Internship programs. We believe that a student has worth and value and deserves to be compensated for their time working with us. However there are too many businesses that look upon their interns as a source of ‘Free Labor’. These types of businesses should be required to pay their interns or be purged from the Internship Program.

Most college students have accumulated a large backload of student debt. To expect the student to enrich any business with their ‘Free Labor’ should be unacceptable to us all. 

In the normal conduct of their business, all businesses are required to pay their employees for their work, even those employees in training. To make an exception for the college intern is both wrong and unfair. BHV calls upon our Local Universities and community to support only ‘Paid’ internships and to discontinue the unfair practice of not paying interns for their time and work.

We Thank You…..

Things to Know and Questions to Ask When Visiting Wineries!

(Provided as a Customer Service by BHV)

Things to Know and Questions to Ask when Visiting Wineries!

Congratulations on your decision to visit wineries. We understand your enthusiasm and excitement! After all, we are blessed to be at one every day!

Before embarking on your winery trip, it’s important that you have an idea of what to expect and what questions to ask of the wineries. To begin, we’ll start with what you can expect.

Most wineries, today, are factories. Some are small factories and some are very large factories. Rather than grow all the grapes and/or fruits for their labeled wines, most factory wineries “source” their inventory in the form of juices and concentrates. In America, today, there are only about 30% of our wineries that are growing anything. As you drive up to the winery, you should expect to see some grapes and/or fruits growing near the tasting building. Just like you, wineries understand psychology and fulfill your expectations with “show vines”. 

Today, most wineries charge you a fee for the privilege of tasting their wines. Some wineries credit this fee to the cost of your wine purchase, while others do not. It’s best to check with them before showing up at their door. You should expect all wineries to follow all the applicable laws that are related to alcohol consumption. In Florida, the legal drinking age is 21 years.

After entering the wine tasting building and before tasting any of their wines, you should ask to see a labeled bottle of each of the wines that you will be tasting. By Federal Law, every winery in America must tell you HOW their wines are made.  This information is usually listed on the back label in tiny print. The “Holy Grail” of wine making will list four words…”GROWN, PRODUCED, VINTED & BOTTLED”! When you see these four words on any wineries wine bottle label, you should become very excited! That winery is upholding the tradition of wine making at the highest standard. 

Remember, however, most wineries in America are simply factories. They aren’t growing anything. They are ‘sourcing’ the juices and concentrates for their wines. The hallmark of a factory winery will only be one or two words. Usually they will read… “Bottled”, “Produced & Bottled” or “Vinted & Bottled”. Notice that the word “GROWN” is missing??

If you have determined that this is a factory winery the next question that you should ask is…”Where are you ‘sourcing’ the juices and concentrates for your wines”? You have a right to an answer to this question. If the winery answers your question, then you can make an informed decision on whether to taste their wines, or not. If the winery cannot or refuses to answer this question, you should leave immediately!

We are throwing 4 Billion used/empty wine bottles into America’s landfills every year, because most American factory wineries refuse to recycle/repurpose their own wine bottles. You should expect every winery that you visit to accept the return of their own empty wine bottles, including those that are shipped. Please ask this question up front. (NOTE: BHV is the Greenest Winery in America and uses 100% recycled/repurposed wine bottles. We’ve repurposed over 100,000 wine bottles in the last 18 months).

Lastly, but not least, you should look for the words “UNFILTERED WINE” on the label. This is telling you that you are getting a wine that is made to be the best that it can be. Only wines that are labeled ‘Unfiltered’ insure you that your wine is made to age properly. Unfiltered wines have NO end time and will get better year after year! You may have to recork in about 20 years. ‘Filtered’ wines have No longevity build into their wines and are only good for about 2 to 4 years! One easy way for you to tell the difference is to look at the neck of the wine bottle. If that wine bottle was sealed with ‘Wax” then it’s most certainly an “Unfiltered” wine. If it has plastic or aluminum foil on the neck it’s a ‘Filtered’ wine.

We hope that the above customer service information helps level the playing field between you and the wineries.

Thank you…BHV

The Green Winer!