The sustainable truth

Sustainability? I could do with some of that right now after plenty of tasting, lots of good food and not enough sleep. Ah well, the dangers of a Pinot conference.

I have always been a bit of a sceptic when it comes to sustainability – isn’t it just for those who want to be seen as green but can’t be arsed to fill in all the paperwork for organic or biodynamic certification?

There seems to be a growing acceptance of sustainability in the wine industry but what is it? I think the strapline should be “Sustainability – ensuring there will be a next generation.” It’s basically ensuring you don’t annihilate the land you work on and making certain it’s still fit for the next generation of grape growers to make decent wine and a decent living.

New Zealand, South Africa and Chile are hot on the sustainability message and it’s an under-utilised marketing tool, according to American Doug Bell, global wine buyer for Whole Foods. “If you can give people a reason to buy the product, you have won their dollars or euros. Sustainable attributes will set you apart from competitors,” he told delegates

“You are leading by example but you have got to market it better,” he added.

He has a point. Who knows what sustainability means? I’m starting to get it but I’ve just spent the day at a conference about it. What are average wine drinkers (i.e normal people not wine journalists) going to make of it?

By making it simple and marketing it better, sustainability could be the next buzzword for wine lovers. However, it was generally agreed that money needs to be spent on promoting it, information on back labels needs to improve and, wineries have to explain sustainability in one line – not five minutes.

Comments of the day

Max Allen, Aussie wine journalist on sustainability:  “At a national level Australia’s version of a national assurance scheme is so weak it’s embarrassing.” He also said in 15 years’ time, “Australia will be producing 700,000 tonnes if it’s lucky”. In 2009, the total crush was 1.9m tonnes.

Doug Bell, global wine buyer for Whole Foods tried to encourage more winemaker visits to the US: “The public eats up a winemaker especially if they have a Kiwi accent.”

Andrew Jefford, UK wine writer, “More than 1000 vineyards in New Zealand are certified sustainable but it has not been commercialised well enough. I didn’t know about it properly myself so the average consumer in Tesco won’t know about it either.”