These are some of the sustainable practices we have put in place over the years:

In the Winery and Tasting Room we have:

• Used 100% green energy in our winery and throughout our estate since our first vintage in 2013. This is in part supplied by our own array of 159 solar panels which generate over 37,000 kwH per year. Much of this is surplus to our requirements which means we export a significant amount of solar energy to the grid, contributing to the overall growth in green energy use by others.
• Reduced our electricity consumption by 50% since 2015
• Minimised our new building development with its high ’embedded carbon’ cost. Our Tasting Room was constructed as a mezzanine within the existing framework of our Winery.
• Reviewed every component of our wine packaging to find areas to improve. Whilst the bottles remain our biggest source of emissions we have:
  • Moved from screw caps to natural cork across all our still wines
  • Removed the neck foils from our sparkling bottles
  • Moved to printing all our labels on recycled paper
  • Selected the lightest weight bottle option readily available for our still wines
  • Stopped providing plastic carrier bags for wine purchased at our Cellar Door but instead lovingly wrap it in colourful recycled tissue paper
• Recycled as much of our waste as possible. All our waste glass, cardboard, plastic and food is collected separately and sent for recycling via an approved re-cycling waste management company.
• Monitored our water use every month since 2013 to help us identify areas of reduction in use
• Launched the first Sussex Vermouth as a means of finding a home for batches of wine that were not suitable for blending into our sparkling or still wines. Rather than disposing of this wine, we found it was perfect for making a delicious Vermouth so reducing our waste wine levels.
• Introduced eco-friendly cleaning products, hand soaps, paper towels and toilet paper in our Tasting Room and toilet facilities

In the Vineyard and Estate we have, and continue to:

• Maintain year-round grass cover in our alleys and headlands to reduce soil erosion and compaction
• Graze sheep over winter to control ground cover and provide manure
• Reduce our use of herbicide via ‘light’ under vine cultivation. This year we will purchase an undervine strimmer to further reduce our use of herbicides and cultivation.
• Build our soil organic matter levels through mulching of vine prunings in the alleys, planting high biomass ‘green manures’ and applying compost and organic soil improvers
• Minimise our use of additional soil nutrient applications via regular and detailed GPS soil nutrient mapping
• Encourage biodiversity by leaving areas of headlands uncut, delaying Spring mowing in our alleys to maximise wild flower pollinator opportunities, repairing hedgerows and planting areas of woodland. Buttercups and dandelions are particularly prevalent in our vineyard
• Reduce diesel consumption by reducing tractor miles in the vineyard
• Collect, separate and recycle our vineyard waste via a certified farm re-cycling scheme