Is your wine sustainable?

Carbon Footprint

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The UK is the world's largest importer of wine. The wine industry accounts for a quarter of the UK's annual greenhouse gas emissions made by the alcohol industry.

Environmentally friendly wine options are becoming increasingly available. There is , however ,still no legislation for producing sustainable wine.

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The fermentation process: Surprisingly all the machines used in the fermentation proccess do not contribute a lot to the carbon footprint of the production process.

Transport and packaging : Due to the global demand for wine from far-away countries, the packaging used during transport cause the greatest carbon expense.

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Transport

The UK: Brings in a billion litres a year of wine, 50% of these are from the New world.

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80% of these bottles weigh on average 500g each and are transported by ship and lorry. The Chilean winery Vina Ventisguera , which aims to reduce it's CO2 ouput, calculated that when trapnsporting a 1540 case container of wine to the UK two tonnes of fossil fuel are released.

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Bottle weight & Carbon dioxide emissions are linked to origin: Carbon emissions for a 1000 case container of wine from Bordeaux, in France, are 71% less than those shipped from New Zealand.

However, Not everything is this simple, mode of transport contributes more significantly to the amound of carbon emitted than distance to source of production.

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Air Cargo vs. Truck vs. Sea The biggest source of greenhouse gas emissionf from wine occur during transportation of wine to the consumer. Air cargo is the worst, followed by trucking and lastly container shipping which has an impact of approximately 5 times less than trucking and 11 times less than cargo.

So where should you buy your wine from? Unfortunately, wine companies do not have to list their mode of transport on their product. However, you can try searching particular wine company websites as they often contain information. Also use your geographical knowledge to predict what mode of transport was likely used based on the wine's origin. Keep in mind distance isn't everything: even if the distance is shorter but it arrived by truck carbon emissions are likely higher!

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The best option: If you are lucky enough to live near to areas where wine is produced, buy your wine locally. Local is always the best option.

Packaging

The glass bottle Most non-recycled waste generated by the wine indusrty comes from packaging.

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Recycling green glass The market for recycled glass is dominated by demand for clear glass, in fact the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) estimates that imported green glass bottled contribute 600 000 tonnes a year to waste.

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Contribution to carbon emissions: An estimated 39% of emissions from a bottle of wine are generated by the glass bottle.

Increasing recyclable green glass WRAP have been working with UK glass manufacturers to produce more green wine bottles using higher proportions of recycled content.

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Plastic vs. Glass? The debate is complicated. Glass is much heavier than plastic , combining this with long distances of transport and non-recyclable plastic may in fact be the better option (having 20-40% less overal negative environmental impact). However, your best option is still locally made wine in recyclable glass bottles.

Closure

Closure? The type of bottle cap used contributes surprising amounts to the overall carbon footprint of wine.

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Cork, plastic, aluminium, glass? 70% of wine bottles still contain natural cork stoppers, however alternative stoppers are becoming increasingly popular. Particularly as they allow for easier re-closure of open bottles and prevent the tainting of wine from cork mold.

Cork is best Cork remains the most environmentally friendly option. Most cork is grown in the mediterranean cork forests of Spain and Portugal. These forests rank among the top biodiversity hotspots in Europe.

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Certified Cork The WWF is working with the Forest Stewardship Council to certify Portugues cork producers and their practices as sustainable. This will hopefully allow cork to remain the preferred choice of closure.

Destruction of Cork Forests Cork production is in fact maintaining the estimated 6.7 million hectares currently used for growing cork. If non-recyclcable options of aluminium and plastic grow in popularity it is likely that the old cork oak forests will be lost to development.

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FArming Practices

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Dry-Irrigation? Grapes are grown in arid regions. This means water is often a problem. Dry-farming refers the the practice of relying solely on natural annual rainfall for growing grapes. In most of Europe's classic grape-growing regions (Bordeauz and Burgndy) this is no problem where there is pleanty of rainfall. In many wine regions dry fariming is actually obligatory as irrigation is illegal.

Why dry-farm? Dry farming can save as much as 16 000 gallons of water per year, with fresh water reserves declining this is an essential resource to conserve. Vintners (wine-growers) also say it improves wine taste as grapes become more intensely flavored, sweeter, denser and smaller. Too much water dilutes the flavours.

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However... Despite the EU's ban on water use many European wineries, especially in Austria and Italy, regrettably still use vineyard irregation in order to increase yields.

Check farming practices Given the benefits of dry-farming to conserving water try to stick to wines which are grown via dry-farming . Consumer pressure is power, this will encourage more wineries to use sustainable farming practices.

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