Trade talk: NZ’s push for sustainability

New Zealand may be ahead of the sustainability game with almost all producers signed up to some sort of sustainability accreditation system, whether that be the country’s own Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ), or certified organics, biodynamics or ISO 14001, but the situation on the ground is far from a one-size-fits-all model.

Anyone hoping for a single index that measures producers’ paths towards increasing sustainability is sadly disillusioned.

The country’s activities towards sustainability goals illustrate well that a mix of national and regional issues exists. It is only by taking an individual look at principles and practices that producers are able to continue to make progress towards greater sustainability. This inevitably involves trade-offs that influence decisions — both philosophical and commercial.

With this in mind, we asked eight New Zealand producers what is the current priority when it comes to improving your sustainability credentials?

Peter Yealands, owner, Yealands Estate

“Recognising sustainability has no end point, we always have a number of projects in development. One that is taking up a fair amount of my time at the moment is the development of a bio char unit. Bio char essentially is organic matter that has been superheated, removing all the moisture but retaining cellular integrity – much like charcoal. It offers huge benefits in terms of locking up carbon in the soil, while providing an ideal environment for soil micro-organisms. We plan to use grape marc and vine prunings in the unit, ultimately adding the bio char to our compost.”

Steve Smith MW, Director of Wine & Viticulture, Craggy Range

“At Craggy Range, we view high-level sustainability issues as simply good farming or winemaking.
All Craggy Range vineyards are certified and audited under the highest level of New Zealand Sustainable Winegrowing, the world’s leading sustainable wine production programme. This has significantly reduced many synthetic inputs over the last five years and also reduced both waste and water usage. We maintain an eco-viticulture programme with a nil-residue agrichemical policy that improves soil health using organic fertilisers and compost made on site reducing the need for burning hydrocarbons.”

Clive Jones, Winemaker, Nautilus Estate

“We use Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand as the framework and basis for our sustainability programme. We are proud to have been an early winery to commit to this certified, independently audited programme and we use the logo on the Nautilus and Opawa wines.
Ongoing improvement is based on moving from a “pass” to “best practice” in the areas of energy and water usage, waste management as well as vineyard practices, and adopting sustainability initiatives that are of interest and relevant to our winegrowing business and above all improve wine quality.”

Philip Manson, General Manager of Sustainability, New Zealand Winegrowers

“Our priority is keeping the Sustainable Winegrowing NZ programme fresh, relevant and real for producers. We recently launched a new scorecard software platform, WiSE (Wine industry Sustainability Engine). WiSE ensures all Sustainable Winegrowing NZ members demonstrate compliance to agreed international standards for sustainable grape and wine production and collect comparative information for those who wish to learn from the community.
Many members challenge themselves to extend beyond the baseline and to be recognised for it. The challenge is to understand what extensions are meaningful both in terms of the environment and market expectations.”

Jo-Anna Partridge, New Zealand Operations Director, Pernod Ricard Winemakers

“We were the first wine company in New Zealand to achieve five top international industry standards relating to quality, environment, health and safety, for all its vineyards, wineries and packaging facility. These certifications help us identify areas where we can make improvements. An example of this is using technology to monitor soil moisture levels and atmospheric transpiration rates to grapevines, which is linked to our irrigation system. This means each vine receives the amount of water it needs, without wasting water on vines that don’t need it.
One other area we identified for improvement is packaging, and by making this a focus we’ve reduced our packaging by 20% per bottle over the past four years and are recycling or reusing 89% of solid waste.”

Fabian Yukich, executive director, Villa Maria

“Villa Maria’s sustainability origins began in the 1990s in a written goal to be environmentally responsible. It has since become a whole company focus that includes the welfare of our employees, support of our communities and responding to our consumers’ desire to buy premium quality wines that are ethically and sustainably produced. Villa Maria is currently embarking on an ambitious journey to integrate sustainability into a combined business excellence initiative that combines quality and environment. This initiative is called “ACE” – Achieving Continuous Excellence – a best practice approach combining traditional winemaking techniques and world class manufacturing practices with the objective of using sustainability to make informed strategic choices.”

Ben Glover, group winemaker, Accolade Wines

“Accolade’s Mud House and Waipara Hills brands belong to the New Zealand Winegrowers Sustainability (SWNZ) programme. As an industry initiative which started over 10 years ago, it has become the foundation to how we record and show traceability and transparency in our wine growing.
We are currently experimenting with a couple of blocks in our vineyards, such as a zero herbicide trial at our Claim 431 Vineyard in Bendigo, Central Otago. We are also running a biodiversity trial with no use of pesticides, herbicides or insecticides at our Mound Vineyard in the Waipara Valley.”