Sustainable winegrowing, is it sustainable or just another fad?

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                                                    Published in Annals of Agrarian Science 5,4 87-90, 2007

Sustainable winegrowing, is it sustainable or just another fad?
- An international overview

Authors
Gemmrich, Armin R. Prof. Dr.; Head of Wine Business Administration Department Heilbronn University,
Max-Planck-Str. 39, 74081 Heilbronn. GERMANY;       gemmrich@hs-heilbronn.de
Corresponding author
Arnold, René C. G. Diplombetriebswirt (FH), Research Fellow Wine Business Administration Department
Heilbronn University, Max-Planck-Str. 39, 74081 Heilbronn. GERMANY; rcgarnold@hs-heilbronn.de

Abstracts
Climate change and international discussions about sustainable and environmentally friendly actions
oblige us to rethink our way of working in the wine industry. Internationally, there is done a lot in terms of
sustainable winegrowing. Especially new world wine producing countries are ahead in sustainable
practices. This article summarizes the different approaches of major international wine producing countries
and lists opportunities for other wine countries.

Currently, climate change and the protection of the environment form the focus of the
international debate. More often than not the protection of the environment is
considered as impeding the prosperity of enterprises, especially in the agricultural
sector. This is also true for the wine growing industry which puts most of its efforts into
the improvement of its products. Vintners tend to think of environmental friendly actions
as counterproductive for the quality of their wine as well as their earnings. Sustainability
offers a solution for this conflict by integrating protection of the environment,
profitability and social issues. It is a wholesome approach towards wine growing and
wine making. Modern wineries all over world have begun to realise sustainability
because of its numerous advantages which will be laid out in detail in this article.

Sustainability is more than just environmentally friendly
To take a closer look at sustainability, it is, first of all, necessary to distinct it from two
other major modern forms of wine growing: biological wine growing and biodynamic
wine growing. Organic wine growing focuses mainly on the environment. Beside this
focus, the other major focus of this practise is to protect the wine from as many as
possible external ingredients. Thus beholding its true nature and decreasing the
environmental impact of its production.
Biodynamic winegrowing is based on the thoughts of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) who
founded the anthroposophy movement at the beginning of the 20th century. Followers of
this approach strive for wholesomeness of their work i.e. production of wine in accord
with nature and with respect to lunar phases. Generally, organic farming is “an
ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity,
biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs
and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony.”
(US National Organic Standards Board, 1998) However, both approaches neglect two
essential parts of sustainability: [1] the working men and [2] the profitability of all
measures taken. Together with the protection of the environment these two measures
form the triangle of sustainability. Sustainable wine growing reaches from the vineyard
to the bottle on the shelf in the supermarket. It is a system that employing the soil’s
fertility as base, aims at taking measures to reduce emissions. The general idea is to

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sustain the ecological digestibility as well as the healthiness of living and following
generations in an overall profitable and economical way. The Sustainable Agriculture
Research and Education Program at University of California, Davis emphasizes that
sustainable viticulture integrates three main goals: environmental health, economic
profitability, and social and economic equity. Therefore, sustainable wine growing is not
only relevant for the present day, but also important for the future.

Basic ecological rules of sustainable development:
   - Dangers and unacceptable risks to the human health by anthropogenic activities
       have to be minimized.
   - The use of renewable resources —such as biomass- should never exceed their
       ability to recover.
   - Non-renewable resources —such as mineral ores, coal, oil… should only be
       consumed to such extend that physically and functionally equivalent replacement
       is created, either by renewable resources or by a higher productivity of renewable
       and non-renewable resources.
   - Substitute non-renewable by renewable resources.
   - Improve and increase the use of technology measures to reduce the burden on
       the environment.
   - Reduce the volume of discards and pollution.
   - The timeline of any anthropogenic impacts on the environment has to be in a
       balanced relation to the timeline of environmental reaction and adaptation
       processes.

Why should we follow the guidelines of sustainable wine growing?
Levitian [2001] speaks of a special relevance of sustainability in the wine line of business
because the wine industry constitutes numerous dangers for the environment as well as
for human beings. The production of wine like the production of any good leads to a
number of by-products. Waste and especially wastewater are very important factors. For
example, the Sicilian professor Cellura and his team have calculated that the production

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of a single bottle of red wine produces 0.5 kg waste and emits 16 g of SO2. [Rosenthal,
2006] A recent Australian study took a closer look at the water consumption in wine
production. It showed that on average the wineries used 2 litres of fresh water for each
0.75 litre bottle of wine. The winery using the largest amount of water exceeded the best
performing by 3,000 per cent. This fact highlights the huge potential of reducing water
consumption in a winery. [Frost et al., 2007] The reduction of fresh water consumption
can be the first step. The major challenge is rather to prevent marc, must or wine to enter
the drainage system.
Thus the improvement of production processes not only helps the environment, but also
increases the usable amount of wine and thereby the turnover of the winery. [Goss, 2007]
Concerning the winery’s staff labour-intensive and health-endangering jobs in the
vineyards as well as in the cellar are of special relevance. Beside the standard health and
safety protection at the workplace there is still need for optimization of these working
processes. All workers should be engaged in this constant optimization process. Thereby
one can achieve not only recognizable advantages in terms of profitability, but also and
even more important a significant improvement of corporate culture and staff motivation.
The concept of sustainability also puts importance on a long-term and trustful
cooperation with stakeholders, suppliers and customers.

Examples from the wine industry
Internationally, on the base of these arguments many different programmes have been
developed to secure a sustainable wine growing practice. Considering the most
important part of self assessment the Californian wineries definitely take the leading
role. As early as 2001 the Californian wineries under the leadership of the Wine Institute
and the “California Association of Wine grape Growers” [CAWG] developed the “Code of
sustainable Winegrowing Practices”. It is a self assessment tool for each winery or
winegrower with which he is able to benchmark his own winery using 15 chapters with
questions. Contrary to most common systems this one does not count on rigid rules and
limits that have to be achieved no matter what. [Dlott/Birdseye, 2002] As an alternative
to this system winegrowers around the world can use the “Positive Point System”. This
handbook for self-assessment was developed by the Central Coast Vineyard Team.
Based on a set of simple questions it offers a concise way to assess the state and the
potential of sustainable practice in the assessed winery. [www.vineyardteam.com]

New Zealand is also one of the pioneers of sustainable winegrowing. The slogan “CLEAN
AND GREEN” is an umbrella brand for the whole country and its products, and wine
growing has to meet the requirements stemming from this strategy. The organisation
responsible for the process of integrating sustainable practices into wine growing in New
Zealand is called “Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand” [SWNZ]. It started with only a
handful wineries. Later on an official system was created on the basis of VitiSwiss from
Switzerland. Today, SWNZ members represent 60 per cent of the whole vineyard area in
NZ, i.e. 70 per cent of all wines produced in NZ are produced within the regulations of
SWNZ. [www.sustainable.org.nz]

Similarly, Australia is very active when it comes to sustainability in wine growing. The
umbrella that integrates all sustainable activities in Australian wine industry is the
general strategy called “Sustaining Success” which has been established in 2002. Under
this umbrella regular events take place. For example, there is an annual Wine Industry
Waste Management Forum where the wine industry’s handling of the waste process is

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analysed. The wineries can pass on their practices, their ideas and concerns to wide
range of peers as well as representatives from organisations and institutions engaged in
the wine industry. [WFA 2006a; 2006b] Within the borders of Australia the state of
Victoria seem to be especially active in terms of sustainable winegrowing. They have
founded the “Environmental Protection Authority” [EPA]. This state initiative supports
wine growers and wineries in implementing sustainability schemes. [EPA Victoria,
website] Equally, within this framework the Coonawarra region has established a region
wide sustainable winegrowing scheme in 2004. [n.a., 2004]

The South African program for sustainable winegrowing is called IPW [Integrated
Production of Wine] and has been established as early as 1998. Different partners
including parties that do not stem directly from the wine industry like research institutes,
suppliers of pesticides or fertilizers have developed this system voluntarily. The
sustainability scheme is self funded and not financially supported by the government.
Each member has to pay a fee based upon its produced amount of wine. Nevertheless,
the system is very successful. Since the harvest of 2000 nearly 100 per cent of South
African wines have been produced according to the rules and regulations set by the IPW.
Partly, the success of this system is due to the fact that all members of IPW have been
able to reduce their costs for water supply, pesticides, and fertilizers drastically. Thus
each one can see the benefits directly in his pocket. [WOSA, 2000] However, the IPW is
not the only project in South Africa dealing with sustainable winegrowing. The
Biodiversity & Wine Initiative [BWI] established 2004 puts its emphasis on the protection
of biodiversity at the Cape, which is endangered by the monoculture vine plantings. The
World Bank financially supports this project. However, the initiative also collects fees
from its members. The whole system is based upon competition of who is able to do
most for biodiversity. [Winter, 2004] Meanwhile, approximately 40 per cent of all South
African winegrowers and vintners have become members of the BWI thus actively taking
responsibility for the biodiversity at their sites. [BWI, website] Equally, the South African
wine industry hand in hand with the government actively deals with its special historic
burden of segregation and therefore also gives attention to the social component of
sustainability. The name of the initiative is “Black Empowerment”. Its aim is to raise the
proportion of wineries run by disadvantaged black individuals up to 25 per cent in the
year 2010. Within the framework of this initiative the so called Thandi project stands out
among many other less successful projects. This project has been supporting black
workers directly and qualifies them to work independently. The wines produced by the
Thandi project are very successful around the world, but especially in Great Britain. In
2003, the project was the first winery ever awarded the Fairtrade accreditation.
Meanwhile three wineries are part of the Thandi project. [Thandi project, website]

Especially the new world wine producing seems to endeavour very seriously the issue of
sustainable winegrowing. However, there are also concepts for this in European wine
growing countries. It begins with the training of students. For example, at the University
of Montpellier [France] there is a special course of study called “Integrated Wine
Production” solely dealing with all aspects of sustainable measures in winegrowing,
environmental laws and rules as well as the marketing of sustainable produced wines.
Furthermore, the old world is able to show that sustainability is clearly not a new concept
that has to be paid with high qualification and technical efforts. For example, vineyards in
France built as terraces promote biodiversity and avoid erosion. [Barham, 2003]

In Germany, international sustainability schemes such as ISO 14 001 [also the basis for
some regional Australian environmental management schemes [WFA, 2006b]] and EMAS

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II (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) are successful. Also the participants of the so
called KONVOI program organised and supported by Heilbronn University have not
regretted the step towards sustainable production of wine or fruit juices under the
framework of EMAS II. Beside the optimization of all processes and the saving of
resources and money, these firms clearly emphasise the potential communication effects
of their certification. The right to show the logo of the achieved certification enables them
to communicate effectively the merit and reliability of their practices to the customers.
Seen in an international dimension, the four participants: Staatsweingut Weinsberg,
Streker Natursaft GmbH, Weingut Sonnenhof and the Winzergenossenschaft Niedernhall
are not alone. In 1998, four New Zealand wineries [Martinborough Vineyard, C.J. Pask
Winery, Palliser Estate and Vidal Estate] also have already achieved ISO 14 001
certification in a very similar way. Just as the four German firms, these four wineries also
profit from the marketing relevant aspects of the achieved certification. [Hall, 2001]

Environmental management — step stone of sustainable winegrowing
Even though sustainable practices are used widely in the international wine industry,
many wine growers may still have concerns about the merit of these practices, especially
when they are organised in a systematic way, for example, under the framework of a
certain environmental management scheme like ISO 14 001 or EMAS II. One of the most
often stated prejudices is mentioned by Reynaud and Simon [2004]. They refer to the fact
that environmental management schemes may, due to their strict rules and strong
documentary routines enable competitors to deduce production’s secrets. Besides the
fear of espionage, there is also the concern about this scheme hindering the possibilities
of wine growers to act innovatively and make use of all their competitive advantages.
However, one has to consider that an implementation of an EMS also provides a rare
0pportunity to look at each process in the winery directly in a somewhat more objective
way and think about how to improve this particular process. Therefore, it might turn out
that the implementation enforces rather than impedes innovation. [Walther, 2004]
Furthermore, ISO 14 001 as well as EMAS II may truly set a very strict regulatory
framework, however, it is definitely not possible to derive any knowledge about internal
processes only on the basis of the obligatory documentation published. Equally, one
should worry too much about the costs of implementation since they have to be seen in
medium and long term context.
Another problem most people do not think of when implementing such an EMS is much
more important and even more difficult to solve. Independent from the choice of the EMS
the scheme has to be implemented in every layer of the company. [Gemmrich, 2003] It
should not be reduced to a firm corset of rules, but rather it is important to communicate
the merit and importance of the system to every man working at the winery — full-time,
part-time and seasonal workers. For it is highly deciding for the success of any measures
to include all workers in the implementation process. Here especially small wineries have
an actual advantage for they usually employ few workers and what is more important
have flat hierarchies and a good corporate culture.

Additional benefits
Sustainable practices turn out to be also very interesting when it comes to
communication, advertising or public relations. As it has been said before especially New
Zealand and South Africa are very keen to talk about their wineries’ focus and efforts on
sustainability. New Zealand promotes this via its “CLEAN AND GREEN” campaign which
does not only support wine, but also most other agricultural products. In fact it forms the

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brand of the whole country. South Africa on the other hand follows a clearly tourist
oriented approach using its responsibility for biodiversity and therefore the protection of
local flora and fauna as tourist attraction. This has two positive results: on the one hand
the overall health of the vineyard is supported and secured in the long term; on the other
hand the installed biodiversity route brings tourist to South Africa and its wineries. Back
in their home countries they might become wine consumers and thus multipliers for
South African wine. Also the Californian wine growers want to use their clear
sustainability direction as a marketing tool. They are planning on a fund supported by the
winegrowers in their region to conduct a large-scale campaign aiming at placing
California as a sustainable acting wine region in the head of the wine consumers.
[Warner, 2006] Equally, the French winegrowers want to use this opportunity. Their
slogan is “viticulture raisonnée” and shall be used strongly as a means of communication
and public relations. For they identify this principle as an additional benefit and
competitive advantage in today’s overcrowded wine shelves. They offer orientation and
security to the customers. [viti-net, 2006]

Conclusion
After all, sustainability is much more than just a recent trend. Rather is a concept that has
been applied successfully by the international wine industry for several years. It is,
however, used not only to decrease costs and human influence on the environment, but
also first and foremost for the creation of competitive advantage and public relations.
The implication stemming from these numerous advantages and possibilities should lead
to a greater spreading of such practices in the wine industry. First and foremost
developing wine countries still have the opportunity to build wineries oriented towards
sustainability right from the beginning.

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References
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