It’s official – ethical consumption is no longer a temporary trend, it’s here to stay. Finder’s Green Consumer Report has found 1 in 2 Australians are actively looking for greener products. With more of us conscious of where we spend our hard-earned cash, wine brands are tapping into this demand by offering sustainable ‘better for the planet’ options in an attempt to capture your tastebuds.
But where do you begin? What even is sustainable wine? How does it differ from organic or natural wine?
You’d be surprised to know that just because a wine is labelled organic or natural, it doesn’t automatically make it sustainable.
Organic winemaking is wine that’s derived from organically farmed grapes. In Australia, this generally excludes the use of artificial chemical fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. It also means that the final product you collect from the shelf is 100% free of additives that you’d find in traditional wine such as refined sugar, various acids and clarification agents. By some standards, it’s wine that’s ‘better for you’.
Natural wine however is the unofficial term that refers to wine crafted with minimal intervention with very little to no additives used throughout the conventional winemaking process. You’d be forgiven for thinking that all-natural wine is organic, but it’s not. If there’s a trace of any additives or agricultural chemicals a natural wine cannot be deemed to be organic.
Sustainable wine producers on the other hand focus more so on the vineyard and farming operations from grape to glass. All aspects of wine production from water conservation, waste management, air and water quality as well as energy efficiency are carefully engineered to ensure the winemaker gives back more to the Earth than it takes.
But buying a truly sustainable drop from your local wine merchant isn’t as easy as it sounds. With a new ‘sustainable wine’ hitting the shelves every week and the rise of greenwashing, Rewild Wine’s Senior Winemaker Tony Allen has 4 tips to avoid being duped in the wine aisle.
1. Start with the label
To be certified, vineyards and wineries must go through rigorous third-party evaluations to ensure their farming practices are top-tier and hit all of the sustainable standards required to be deemed a ‘sustainable’ wine producer.
Look out for a certification seal on the bottle such as the ‘SWA’ logo which demonstrates that the brand is certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia.
2. Do your own research
Just because a wine is sustainable does not mean it’s automatically organic, biodynamic or natural.
Sustainable wine focuses on mitigating and reducing wastefulness in winemaking, water consumption, energy usage and carbon emission reduction on top of utilising eco-friendly farming practices. Whereas organic and natural wines focus on the percentage of additives and artificial agricultural chemicals.
Sustainable wine producers will frequently detail their sustainability story and processes across their website. I’d recommend doing a quick Google Search on a sustainable wine producer like Rewild Wine and checking out their green credentials.
3. Has the wine brand made any environmental commitments?
Closely look at the label on your bottle of wine in question and check for any sustainable pledges such as their use of renewable energy across their vineyards and operations or whether their farming practices are carbon neutral.
4. Pick up a bottle off the shelf
Sounds simple but check that the bottle is lightweight and review the packaging credentials.
Check to see if the bottle, the wine cap, and the label are high in recycled content. Most sustainable wine brands that adopt these highly recycled components will call them out on the label.
For example, Rewild Wine’s bottles are lightweight, and our labels are made from sugarcane waste, all features designed to minimise our carbon footprint and impact on the environment.
When you choose to purchase a sustainable drop from your local wine merchant, you’ll not only be drinking some of Australia’s best quality wine, you’ll also be supporting wine producers who are committed to producing wine that doesn’t cost the Earth.
Sustainably made with minimal intervention, Rewild Wines are a tribute to our home in the Southern Murray Darling and the grapes that grow there. Fresh, vibrant and easy-drinking, each bottle does good – and tastes even better. You can find our varietals in Dan Murphy’s stores nationally or online at https://www.danmurphys.com.au/list/rewild
Guest post by Rewild’s Senior Winemaker Tony Allen.
