Vineyard fulfils sustainable "Destiny"

Destiny Bay Vineyards has become Waiheke's first sustainable winery operation "from grape to glass".

Sustainable Winegrowing NZ issued the winery certification this week, following certification for sustainable vineyard operations in 2005.

Destiny's sustainable compliance manager Mark Boyle says the vineyard has spent the last year monitoring and recording winery operations relating to recycling, energy efficiency and environmental management.

He says the vineyard has significantly reduced its energy costs by improving the insulation in the barrel aging facility.

"And by using 'green' technologies like ozonated water, the use of common sanitising agents like caustic soda has been completely eliminated from our winemaking procedures," he says.

The vineyard also recycles all of its packaging materials, returns pressed grapes to the vineyard, mulches its prunings, and carries out pH testing of the soil across the site.

Destiny Bay Wines owner Sean Spratt says most of the other wineries in the country that have received sustainable certification are more than ten times the size of his business.

"For small vintners with limited resources the certification process can be time consuming and expensive, but we feel it was a worthy investment," he says.

"It is the land and the terroir at Destiny Bay that allows us to produce distinctive wines sought by collectors around the world. The vineyard is our most important asset and it makes sense that we act as good stewards of the land."

Destiny Bay grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. Its wines can be found on the wine lists of restaurants in San Francisco, Chicago and Auckland, and in private cellar collections.

Sustainable Winegrowing NZ provides the framework for companies to work towards improving all aspects of their performance in terms of environmental, social and economic sustainability in both the vineyard and the winery. For more information visit www.nzwine.com/swnz.