Reusable System for Wine?

We’ve freshly cleaned and labeled our KEGs! KEG – never heard of it? A KEG (meaning ‘small barrel’) is a reusable barrel with a capacity of 15-20 liters, originally used for beer. These stainless steel barrels can be just as easily and gently filled with wine and tapped like beer. Wine on tap is not new, but it’s still rare in German-speaking Switzerland. Unjustly so – KEGs could replace single-use bottles in gastronomy, catering, and at festivals, bringing many advantages.

The glass of a wine bottle significantly contributes to the wine’s CO2 footprint. Although most of the empties are collected and recycled, the entire cycle – glass production, empty glass distribution, filled glass distribution, disposal, and recycling – consumes a lot of energy and generates a considerable amount of CO2 before the resources are available again.

A typical 20-liter KEG replaces 26 glass bottles of 0.75 liters each, including corks or caps, labels, and cartons. This saves CO2, storage space, is easy to handle, guarantees consistently fresh quality, and means much less carrying around. After use, the KEGs are collected, cleaned, refilled, and delivered again – quickly and easily.

vinigma has been delivering wine in KEGs for a while now to several bars in town. And anyone who stumbles into our cellar at our house bar loulou la poule can, of course, always have a glass straight from the tap.