The wine industry was battered and bruised in 2008, the astronomical prices for top-level wines plunged, and as if in an act of repentance more winemakers went green. For example, Boisset, the second-largest producer of Beaujolais Nouveau,
bottled its entire 2008 harvest in lightweight plastic bottles. Biodynamic and organic wines increased. Yet many still doubt the wine industry's sincerity when it comes to carbon neutrality because they still ship wine in wooden crates as opposed to the much lighter corrugated cardboard. The Liv-Ex 100 Fine Wine Index, the wine world's Dow Jones Index, has fallen more than 20 percent from its all-time high. Among the hardest hit was Domaine Romanee Conti 1990, which commanded more than $20,000 a bottle in November 2007, but sold last fall for $6,500 - a 67.5 percent drop. The global credit crisis has threatened Bordeaux's en primeur sales. And as wine buyers search for bargain-priced bottles, Bacchus seems to be favoring Chile and Argentina.
