Frugalpac announces that Anglo Spanish wine startup Savvy Pair wins gold medal for design at Harpers Design Awards with their paper Frugal Bottle; judges note the Savvy Pair bottles feature a very detailed design with lots of story and meaning

The award-winning Savvy Pair range using Frugal Bottle, lightweight glass, bag in box and cans

Anglo Spanish wine start-up Savvy Pair has won a gold medal for design at the Harpers Design Awards with their Frugal Bottle.

Co-founders Richard Leaver and Domingo Miguel have sourced wines from Spain and chose the paper Frugal Bottle as one of the formats along with lightweight glass bottles, bag in box and cans to ensure they could reduce the packaging’s carbon footprint.

The Frugal Bottle is the world’s first and only commercially available paper bottle for wines and spirits, made from 94% recycled paperboard. It’s five times lighter than a glass bottle and has a carbon footprint 84% lower.

The brand’s design includes a ‘Savvy eco pledge’, offering ‘clever finds, eco-friendly, well-made wines’. The branding and design put together by Savvy Pair and Aline Nienaber from leading designers, Hill and Sky.

The Harpers Design Awards judges said the Savvy Pair bottles had:

• A very detailed design with lots of story and meaning. The Frugalpac bottle is clever and interesting. Can see consumers enjoying reading the packaging.
• Excellent commitment to sustainability.
• Great level of detail displayed well. Sustainability aspect is good. Modern and fun. Flavour-led’

The two initial wines in the Savvy Pair range come from Spain and include ‘Puerto Heights’ for the red, a blend of Garnacha and Tempranillo, and ‘Heartland Plateau’ for the white made from Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc.

Savvy Pair plan to create a 10-strong range made up of two wines from Spain, three from France, a couple sourced in Italy and three from across South America.

Savvy Pair co-founders Richard Leaver and Domingo Miguel

Savvy Pair Co-founder Richard Leaver, who previously worked as commercial director in Europe for Santa Rita Estates, said: “We are chuffed to bits with this. Consumers want a brand they can trust and a wine they like.

“Savvy Pair has a personality but also a commitment to sustainability. That’s why we’ve chosen to use lower carbon formats, especially the Frugal Bottle.

“We’d like to thank Frugalpac and our designer Aline Nienaber for helping to bring Savvy Pair to life and we look forward to talking to retailers to stocking our wines so you can drink both responsibly and sustainably.”

Frugalpac CEO Malcolm Waugh added: We’re really pleased for Richard and Domingo. Savvy Pair have shown that promoting lower carbon packaging can win sales and awards.

“They also highlight one of the Frugal Bottle’s key strengths – the ability to offer 360 degree design across the bottle so it stands out on shelf and on the table. We congratulate them on their win and wish them a successful 2024.”