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More wine please! Sustainability benchmark on international wineries If you have to name a classic wine country, many people would choose France, Italy or Spain. Another wine country with a rich wine history, that includes typical varieties such as Riesling or Silvaner, is Germany. Especially the southwest region, with areas such as the Kaiserstuhl, the Rine- and the Moselvalley, is famous for its dry white wines. Varieties such as the Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris), Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) and Müller-Thurgau (Rivaner) are world-famous.
Grünewald & Schnell
German wineries are becoming more active on sustainability. One of the first German wineries that started to report on sustainability is Grünewald & Schnell from the area of Worms in the west of Germany. This family business switched to eco-production of wines that includes the entire supply chain. Soil erosion is reduced through extra foliage, green energy is used at the wine farm, the winery initiated light packaging and the wooden boxes that are used at the winery are made by people with a disability.
Benchmarking international wineries on sustainability
Also in other wine countries, several new sustainable initiatives in the wine industry are emerging such as the declaration ‘Wineries for climate protection’ in Spain. Therefore, the PROBE Network LLP developed a benchmark that measures sustainability at international wineries. PROBE stands for PROmoting Business Excellence and by using benchmarking and assessment tools, Business Excellence is promoted and supported. With the help of The Natural Step, the PROBE Network will use the benchmarking tools with the international wineries. The Natural Step is an international organization that applies a framework for sustainability. Companies that have applied the Natural Step framework are for example IKEA and Nike. Participating countries in the benchmark are Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Chile and South Africa.
The objective is to include a minimum of 15 wineries per country in the benchmark. Benchmarking leads to several benefits for the wine producers such as average estimated operational cost savings of $30.000 a year, a broader application of sustainability in the organization and new business opportunities to improve the reputation.
The benchmark includes peer learning from frontrunners in sustainable wine producing and gives concrete directions to improve. For more information on the wine benchmark or on the case study on sustainability at the famous Spanish Torres wines, please contact Jan van der Kaaij via jan@between-us.nl or +31(0)76-5222817.
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The roots of the Torres family in the Penedès region of Spain, in Catalunya, can be traced back to the 17th century, with the very first written...
Naming and shaming is increasingly regarded as an effective way to progress the sustainability of sectors and individual organizations. Therefore the...
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