Wine that could eventually help chill the planet
Blenheim-based Yealands wants to eventually absorb more greenhouse gas than it emits, making it climate positive. That’ll require the winemaker to cut its footprint by 5% every year, sustainability head Michael Wentworth tells Olivia Wannan.
When did Yealands’ sustainability journey begin?
In 2008, when we launched, it was Peter Yealands’ vision to lead the world in sustainable wine production. We have a philosophy: think boldly, tread lightly.
Is plant-based food the way of the future?
We were the first winery in the world to be certified as carbon-zero, from day one.
In sustainability, there’s never a finishing post. There are always improvements.
What are the major contributors to a winegrower’s footprint?
Our operations here – the vineyard and winery – make up about 35% of our footprint. Of that, diesel and electricity are key.
That leaves 65% – the primary emissions are packaging and freight. This is challenging, because you have to work with multiple parties and countries. The big gains are beyond our vineyard boundary.
How do you get that to net-zero?
Diesel powered our irrigation pumps, though we’ve electrified those. We’re using smaller tractors, better suited to lighter work. Before, we had large agricultural tractors.
We reduced diesel emissions by planting wildflowers and legumes down the vineyard rows, so you don’t have to mow as regularly. The beauty of that is it naturally increases biodiversity within the vineyard and carbon and water in the soil.
We’ve got a significant composting operation.
Winemaking can be electricity-intensive. Right throughout the process, you’re regularly either warming wines or cooling it, depending on where your wine is at. That requires energy.
At the moment, we produce 20% of our energy requirements on site. We’ve got a solar system on our winery roof – and it was the largest array at the time, when it was installed. Within the next two years, we’ll be installing something that’s 10 times larger, on land opposite the winery. We’ll get to about 60% self-sufficient.
But what’s unique to us is that we bale a portion of vine prunings, dry them and use those as a heating source in the winery – rather than using LPG.
How about off the vineyard?
Increasingly, we are bottling in the market. When you’re shipping long distances, you want to be as efficient as possible. Sending packaged wine overseas means your container is full of air, or the air gaps between bottles – plus you’re shipping a heck of a lot of packaging.
By shipping more wine in less packaging, we reduce our freight footprint by 30%. In the foreign markets, you get more choice. For example, in Sweden a lot of their premium wine comes as cask wine – which is one of the lowest-emissions forms of packaging.
We calculate all our emissions and for all unavoidable ones, we purchase registered carbon credits. We’ve done that from day one. But we want to be carbon-positive by 2050 – we’ll achieve that without offsetting.
By 2050, we’ll have to sequester carbon: whether that’s planting native trees or using biochar, which locks carbon away in the soil.
2050 sounds like a long way away. To get there we need to reduce our carbon footprint by at least 5% every year. And by 2030, we want to reduce our emissions by at least 50%.
From 2013 to now, we’ve reduced our footprint by about 25%. There’s still a lot of work to be done.
What happened with Yealands’ eco bottle?
It was a PET plastic product, which had emissions advantages. A lighter bottle uses less resources, and when you’re moving that bottle, you produce fewer emissions transporting it.
It was always a starting point, in our quest to find a biodegradable product that stopped the wine being oxidised.
The public wasn’t really ready. We found people were buying it more for convenience, than the environmental aspect. It was easier to use outdoors, and doesn’t break.
Shoppers’ acceptance is key. There was a push against plastic. Ultimately, we didn’t progress.
How will a warming climate affect wine production?
Over the last six months in Marlborough, we’ve had three significant weather events that have impacted our ability to get to the winery and our ability to export our wine via Nelson.
Our industry is very reliant on the weather. A small change in temperature or the environment has a noticeable impact on the flavour profile of your wine. Marlborough sauvignon blanc is so distinctive on the international stage, so a small change in climate has the potential to affect the wines we produce. It is scary.
People are looking at ways to adapt – but the argument should be: what can we do to prevent it? We believe that a more biodiverse vineyard is a more resilient one. The more we plant native trees and wildflowers, the less inputs we need to make and the better our vines will be.