Sustainable Carbon Negative Wine

Sustainable Carbon Negative Wine

What is sustainable wine?

Sustainable‘ is not a legal or technically defined term so it can be quite confusing and open to ‘green washing’. It can encompass elements of organic wine, biodynamic wine, natural wines and regenerative viticulture, but ultimately it has to mean that we are growing grapes and producing wine in a manner that does not compromise the ability of future generations to do the same.

This means sustainability needs a broad approach, inevitably encompassing elements from organic and regenerative farming but also placing a high priority on Carbon accounting and reduction to ensure we are dealing with climate change head on.

Our aim at Albourne Estate, is to become a sustainable Carbon Negative wine producer whilst also fostering biodiversity at the estate.

This involves looking at a wide range of sustainability metrics from what type of pesticides we use in the vineyard to how many tonnes of carbon we add to the atmosphere for every glass bottle we fill or litre of diesel we burn. This pulls elements from organic and regenerative viticulture (e.g. a focus on soil health and building soil organic matter levels) but also, and perhaps most importantly, involves us considering the carbon impact of every choice we make.

We measure and monitor all aspects of our operation to quantify our annual Carbon Footprint using an independently audited Winery and Vineyard Carbon Calculator produced by WineGB, the industry body of the UK wine industry. This forms part of the Sustainable Wines of Great Britain (SWGB) Scheme which was established in 2020 to bring authority, assurance and credibility to the way in which sustainability is measured and observed in the English wine industry. We received our first certification in January. You can read more about it in our recent blog here.

If you would like to learn more about some of the specific sustainable practices we have adopted at Albourne Estate, please click here.

We try to use a combination of science and common sense to work out the best choices. Very often they are not straight forward and demand compromises and trade offs. There is more we could do but at least we are heading in the right direction.

Sustainable Wines of GB Certification
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Harvest Report 2022
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Corks vs Screw Caps
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How do we get to Carbon Neutral wines?
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