Trophy rewards environmental practices
December 30, 2009
The Villa Maria Single Vineyard Keltern Chardonnay 2007 has been awarded the trophy for Best Sustainable Wine, 2009, representing years of commitment to sustainable wine production by Villa Maria Estate.
Presented at the Romeo Bragato Wine Awards, it recognises both the wine as being of outstanding quality, and the commitment from Mark Dixon and his team at the Keltern Vineyard to sustainable grape production.
Villa Maria viticulturist Ollie Powrie, who oversees the Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough regions, says all the company owned vineyards are accredited with Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ) and they are hoping their contract growers will all be accredited by the 2010 harvest.
On a day to day basis, operating sustainably means the company is particularly focused on minimising spray use, as well as other initiatives such as monitoring irrigation use, he says.
Villa Maria also uses the Agrecovery Container Recycling programme to dispose of used chemical containers.
‘Having this service available means we know that the waste plastic containers from our sprays and fertilisers are being disposed of safely and on top of that being recycled into a long term end use product, which is another great thing about the programme.’
It’s all part of the sustainable focus that Villa Maria has been keen to foster since very early on in the company’s history.
‘As well as our SWNZ accreditation, we also have one accredited organic vineyard, with two other vineyards currently in conversion to organics,’ says Ollie.
‘We also recently approached Agrecovery to see if they could help us find a solution for the recycling of the large amount of bird netting we use.
‘The bird netting is critical to protecting the high value crop and can be reused for up to 10 years but for some time we have been looking at options for disposal once it reaches the end of its useful life,’ says Ollie.
Agrecovery agreed to pick up 8 tonnes for a trial and is looking at various end use options including a possible application within concrete.
Bruce Emerson, director of 3R Group, programme managers for Agrecovery says a lot of people were inquiring about recycling bird netting at the recent Romeo Bragato Conference.
‘This is a real problem for the viticulture industry, and one that needs solving for the industry to be truly sustainable.
‘Through this trial we hope to find a practical recycling solution, just as we have for containers and wrap.’