Global Package Celebrates 20 Years of Exceptional Glass Packaging

Twenty years ago, Erica Harrop founded Global Package with a simple belief: exceptional brands deserve exceptional packaging, and exceptional partners. This year, we at Global Package are incredibly proud to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Since our founding in 2006 in the heart of Napa Valley, we have been dedicated to providing premium glass bottles and innovative packaging solutions to some of the world’s finest wineries and distilleries. What began as a bold vision to bridge the gap between world-class glass design and local craft producers, and one woman’s belief that wineries and distilleries deserved better design, better technical expertise, and better service, has grown into one of North America’s most respected glass packaging companies. Over the past two decades, we have remained steadfast in our core mission: to offer outstanding, creative, and sustainable packaging, backed by unsurpassed customer service and deep technical expertise.

As we look back on twenty years of evolution, we are reminded of how our passion for glass has shaped the shelf presence of countless brands. From pioneering lightweight designs to bringing Estal’s revolutionary “Wild Glass” to the U.S. market, we have navigated an ever-changing landscape by prioritizing our clients’ aspirations.

How It All Began

Our story is deeply rooted in the winemaking industry. Our founder and CEO, Erica Harrop, started her career as a UC Davis-trained enologist and completed international wine studies at the prestigious University of Bordeaux. However, her professional journey took a transformative turn in 1987. Taking a job “on a whim” with the French management team at Demptos Glass at the age of 24, she unexpectedly fell in love with the artistry of glassmaking.

As Erica often reflects, “To watch glass be made is a beautiful thing… to watch hot lava glass come out of the furnace and turn into some beautiful shape”. She quickly realized that glass was her true calling, describing the intricate process of structural bottle design as a complex, rewarding puzzle. “Bottles are like a living thing,” Erica explains. “Each bottle will be slightly different… and that’s the way it is, a little bit like wine”.

Armed with more than twenty years of leadership experience at some of the country’s major glass manufacturers and a newly minted MBA from Sonoma State University, Erica founded Global Package in 2006. Her goal was to leverage her enology background and packaging expertise to source the world’s most exquisite glass and deliver it with unparalleled technical support to domestic winemakers and distillers.

Legacy of Growth

In our twenty years of business, we have crossed several landmark milestones that have shaped who we are today. One of our earliest achievements was establishing exclusive, strategic alliances with Europe’s most innovative glass design companies and factories. These partnerships enabled us to bring high-end, European-style aesthetic refinement straight to the North American market.

In 2008, recognizing the dual need for cost savings and environmental responsibility, we launched our proprietary Elegant Light Line. Engineered in collaboration with highly competitive partner factories, this collection of lightweight bottles was designed to reduce shipping costs and carbon footprints without compromising the voluptuous curves and deep punts expected of premium packaging.

Furthering our offering of sustainable glass packaging options, our exclusive partnership with Spanish design house Estal brought the revolutionary Wild Glass collection to U.S. shores in 2020. Made from nearly 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) glass, Wild Glass celebrates natural, organic “imperfections” like aesthetic bubbles and slight color variations. Erica championed this shift, stating, “What happens in a glass factory is they are sorting for something near perfect. What we’re saying for Wild Glass is the industry doesn’t need near perfect; they need something functional”. The result is that each of these bottles is truly unique since the production process allows for slight imperfections in the natural formation of the glass to remain, making each bottle an aesthetic one-of-a-kind work of art.

Another monumental step in our history took place in 2024, when we officially transitioned into a multigenerational family business. Daniel Harrop, Erica’s son, joined our sales team, covering Southern California and Oregon. Having spent five years learning our backend operations as an assistant and gaining outside experience in beverage marketing, Daniel’s addition solidified our legacy. As Erica proudly noted, “Daniel has not only paid his dues, he has also earned his wings in our industry. He’s excelled in both production and packaging aspects and is a strategic thinker”. Daniel added, “With her passion for the industry, my mom has steered Global Package into being a leading provider of exceptional glass and service. I am proud to become an integral player”.

Comprehensive Portfolio Built for Every Dream

Over the years, we have meticulously built a comprehensive, off-the-shelf, and bespoke portfolio to meet any winery or distillery’s aspirations. We believe packaging is the very first touchpoint a consumer has with a brand, which is why we continually push the envelope of glass design.

Beyond our diverse off-the-shelf collections, we have continuously expanded our custom bottle capabilities to help wineries and distilleries create a truly unique and powerful statement for their brands.  These include custom molds, bespoke embossing, precision silk-screening and printing, elegant attached medallions, unique bottle finishes, and a vast range of striking glass colors. Our specialty is in managing the entire bespoke journey from start to finish, guiding everything from initial creative sketch through quoting, custom mold design, bottle manufacture, rigorous quality control, custom decoration, and final timely delivery.

This collaborative, technically precise approach has paved the way for some of our most exciting partnerships, enabling us to turn highly ambitious design concepts into striking, shelf-ready realities.

Rather than opting for a standard stock shape, the brand partnered with us to engineer a fully bespoke bottle that reflects its unique craft. Since the gin is distilled using historic, old-school methodologies and botanical ingredients, we incorporated intricate details and graceful, fluid curves that honor the rich legacy of pre-Prohibition distilling. We focused heavily on the bottle’s ergonomics, designing an incredibly smooth, seamless transition from the neck to the shoulders. This elegant slope ensures that visual elements wrap flawlessly around the glass, while remaining comfortable to grip and pour. The resulting silhouette radiates premium heritage, commanding a powerful and unmistakable presence on any crowded back bar or retail shelf.

A more recent challenge was our collaboration with winemaker Benoit Touquette, who sought to recreate the extraordinary elegance and charisma of a 170-year-old bottle recovered from an 1850s shipwreck. To capture this “silent narrative of heritage” and balance the gravitas of a collector’s item with an “accessible piece of art,” we employed a level of industrial artistry. In a strategic move virtually unheard of in standard glass manufacturing, we invested in three distinct sets of molds for this single design. This allowed us to introduce intentional, designed imperfections, such as subtle variations in neck height and cartouche positioning, ensuring no two bottles are completely identical.

By balancing engineering asymmetry with hidden symmetrical points, we replicated the warm, authentic personality of a handmade vessel while keeping it technically sound for global distribution. Finished with tactile signatures like the sculpted Coat of Arms of Lyon and “Fait Main” base embossing, the resulting bottle creates an unforgettable brand memory in the consumer’s hand.

Exemplary Service and Reliable Sourcing

We understand that shipping delays and supply chain volatility can devastate bottling schedules. That is why over the years we’ve worked hard to establish ourselves as an embedded partner rather than just a transactional vendor. In our two decades of business, we have built a robust local supply chain, maintaining extensive stock across a broad network of local warehouses in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. This strategic footprint guarantees that both boutique and large-scale wineries and distilleries have rapid, reliable, and straightforward access to premium glass, providing a swift route to market.

Experience That Performs Under Pressure

As Global Package celebrates its 20th anniversary, Erica Harrop is also taking on another milestone: competing in the 2026 Pacific Cup, a 2,100-mile offshore race from San Francisco to Hawaii. Success offshore isn’t about avoiding challenges. It’s about preparation, technical expertise, adaptability, calm decision-making, and solving problems when conditions change.

Those same qualities have shaped Global Package from the very beginning. Whether engineering a custom bottle, navigating complex supply chains, managing global factory relationships, or helping clients bring ambitious packaging concepts to life, Erica and her team have built a reputation for finding solutions where others see obstacles. It’s this combination of structural engineering expertise, technical knowledge, trusted factory partnerships, and unwavering commitment that has earned the confidence of wineries, distilleries, and beverage brands for the past two decades.

You can follow Erica’s journey on instagram and on substack.

Looking Forward to the Next Twenty Years

As we raise a glass to celebrate this remarkable milestone, we extend our heartfelt thanks to the wineries, distilleries, and industry partners who have trusted us with their brands over the past twenty years. The glass industry will continue to evolve, but our commitment to sustainability, premium design, technical excellence, and exceptional service remains unchanged.

We look forward to partnering with you over the next twenty years, transforming creative visions into beautiful, functional packaging that helps brands stand out for generations to come.

If you have something in mind or want to explore what’s possible, please contact our team with any queries. Fill out our contact form, email us at sales@globalpackage.net, or call +1 707 224-5670.