Green wine? Thanks, but we’ll stick to reds.

An article in the January 15th issue of the Queen’s Journal describes how Lifford Wine Agency plants a coniferous tree for every bottle of its Plantatree wine sold. Drink one bottle every 23 days says the company, and you’ll be carbon neutral for the year. Maybe it’s the wine, but when we did the math, things got a little fuzzy.

The problem is that each tree absorbs about 0.3 tonnes of carbon in its lifetime – not in a year. Seeing as the life span of your average conifer is around 200 years, that’s not a lot of carbon per year – about 0.0015 tonnes compared to the five-tonnes per year carbon footprint of your average Canadian. At that rate, by our count, you’d have to drink about 3,335 bottles per year, or one about every two and a half hours. Or maybe they sell their wine in 280-litre bottles. Though we’re certainly not suggesting you drink your way to carbon neutrality, the deal does some good for the environment, and maybe a bit more for the wine maker.