The path to a sustainable future
A roadmap to sustainability starts with people. At Vintage Wine Estates, all commitment to innovation and positive change, whether in the vineyards, the cellar, the supply chain or the business as a whole, begins with a team culture that encourages problem-solving, creativity and a sense of stewardship.
We are honored to steward the land, support our employees and their families, create opportunities for diverse new talent, give back to communities and the customers who enjoy our products, and operate our business ethically and responsibly.
THE VWE SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY
Vintage Wine Estates’ commitment to responsible stewardship and good corporate citizenship is based on the “triple bottom line” of People, Planet and Profit.
In 2021, VWE launched Cultivate 4 Tomorrow (C4T). This sustainability strategy is based on what environmental and social issues are most relevant for our business in our part of the world. The idea was to identify the focus areas where we can have real impact. During this process we listened to scientists and team members, looked at changes in society and the climate that affect our business model, and aligned ourselves with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
We divide our sustainability work into four prioritized categories: People, Climate, Water, and Packaging & Waste. You can read more about these categories below.
Sustainably Certified Wineries and Vineyards
We have certified all our California Estate wineries and vineyards through the California Certified Winegrowers Alliance, with one vineyard (Laetitia Estate Vineyards) certified through Sustainability in Practice (SIP). Certified Sustainable vineyards and wineries produce high quality grapes and wine, adhering to sustainable winegrowing and winemaking practices that are environmentally sound, socially equitable and economically viable.
Many of our vineyards were early adopters of these sustainability programs, such as Kunde Family winery which was one of the first certified wineries in the state, while Laetitia was a founding member of SIP.
Two of our main vineyards in Oregon and Washington are certified sustainable through LIVE. In 2023 we will begin work to certify our wineries and remaining vineyards in these areas.
CLIMATE IMPACT AND RESILIENCE
Our Climate pillar is based both on the impact we have on the climate through our carbon emissions and the impact changes to the climate will have on our wine production and our communities.
In fall 2022 we completed our first Scope 1&2 carbon emissions calculation and initiated a plan to reduce carbon emissions. Our mitigation strategies include a system to track our energy use at all wineries in real time, efficiency upgrades and installing alternative energy. We have recently completed the installation of the largest solar park in Mendocino county – a 2,23 megawatt solar array with industrial scale batteries which will offset the entire energy of our large scale winery and bottling facility. Recent upgrades to Ray’s Station, which is the largest employer in rural Hopland, makes it a highly efficient facility for our lifestyle and private label brands
In addition to reducing our impact on climate, we analyze and adopt strategies that will make our wineries and vineyards more resilient to the effects of the changing climate, including preparing for hotter summers, droughts, wildfires and late frosts.
Regenerative agricultural practices, including permanent, mixed cover crops, reduced tilling and compost application are all practices that improve soil health and contribute to binding carbon in the soil. Vineyards with increased biodiversity, both from plants, insects, animals and soil microbes, are healthier, more resilient vineyards. If you notice slightly “messier” vineyards, where vine cuttings are allowed to decompose in the rows and some weeds show up among the seeded grasses, or see cranes or hawks snapping up a gopher at Kunde, notice the goats “mowing” around the vineyard at Laetitia, or even spot a colony of ladybugs or bees in a bed of wildflowers, this is all part of our strategic work in the vineyards.
Water Stewardship
Working in wine in California, Oregon and Washington in times of unprecedented drought has given us a deep understanding of the worth of water. In 2022, we installed advanced water tracking at our wineries, to see in real time how and where we use water to find opportunities for reduction. We will continue rolling this out in 2023, along with a pilot program using NASA data and AI for forecasting future water availability.
Current initiatives include using water saving practices in the winery such as specialty nozzles and barrel washers, reusing wastewater from the wineries to irrigate vineyards, and using city graywater for vineyard irrigation. Our wineries have individual plans as well, such as drought tolerant landscaping at Clos Pegase or a transition to dry farming (no irrigation) for parts of the Kunde Estate Vineyards.
At our Viansa vineyard, we have restored the adjacent wetland area. These wetlands are now home to a large variety of birds and other wetland species, while recharging and cleaning the groundwater and capturing carbon from the atmosphere.
people and community
Within our People pillar, we are focused on creating diversity, equity and inclusion within VWE and in the overall wine industry, as well as enhancing community involvement and charitable engagements.
Vintage Wine Estates is committed to being a good corporate citizen, to respecting human rights and to conducting our business in an ethical and responsible manner. We recognize the inherent value of every individual and the freedoms and protections that must be afforded to every one of us. Our full statement on Human Rights and protection against Modern Slavery can be found here(opens in a new window). We expect the same of our partners throughout the supply chain. Our Supply Chain Code of Conduct can be found here (opens in a new window).
We actively work at creating opportunities at VWE promote diversity and encourage people of color and members of the LGTBQ+ community to join our ranks. We are firm believers in gender equality and have established a strong culture of female leadership. Almost half of positions at the Director level and above are women, with women strongly represented at the highest leadership positions, including as President and Chief Financial Officer.
Supporting Our Communities
ANGELS SHARE
Angels Share is Vintage Wine Estate's annual campaign to help families in communities across the U.S. who are facing food insecurity. Partnering with Redwood Empire Food Bank (a Feeding America, Meals on Wheels affiliate) and other regional food banks, Vintage has contributed over 1 million meals to those in need with the help of our vendors, distributors and retail partners. Our employees participate every year in a holiday food box packing event at winery headquarters in Santa Rosa, California.
AngelsSharing.com
tough enough to wear pink
Tough Enough To Wear Pink is the western community’s breast cancer awareness and fundraising charitable campaign.
What began as a grassroots movement has spread to rodeos and other sporting events across the U.S. and Canada. Money raised by local committees stays in the local community to be used as needed to support families facing breast cancer including mammograms, transportation to treatment and financial support to patients and hospital treatment units. Tough Enough To Wear Pink has a goal to raise $50 million by 2030. 100% of Purple Cowboy wine profits are donated to TETWP.
ToughEnoughToWearPink.com
bar dog gives back
Bar Dog is a delectable California wine made to be enjoyed every day. For the love of dogs and all they bring to our lives, Bar Dog wines has committed to supporting rescue shelters across North America in partnership with the Petfinder Foundation.
The Petfinder Foundation awards grants funded by Bar Dog wines to shelters, helping them provide pet food, supplies, and veterinary treatment for dogs awaiting adoption. These non-restricted operating grants from Bar Dog Gives Back help organizations continue their good work to find dogs their forever homes.
bardogwine.com
women in wine scholarship
Vintage Wine Estates is the proud supporter of an annual $5000 scholarship to support women’s leadership in the wine industry. The scholarship is awarded to a student pursuing a Professional Wine Master of Business Administration degree at Sonoma State University.
For applications details, visit: https://sbe.sonoma.edu/scholarships/graduate-programs-scholarships
SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING & WASTE
Making a sustainable wine means looking at all aspects of the product, including the packaging. A standard wine bottle contributes to a whopping 40% of the wine’s carbon footprint! For this reason, we are working through our selection of bottles and will be launching our largest brands in truly lightweight glass in 2023. We also produce wines in cans, which has approximately 1/5th of the carbon footprint of a wine bottle. Like our bottles and cans, the cardboard wine boxes are fully recyclable (and all contain recycled materials), so please place these in the correct bins once you have enjoyed your wine. Corks can be returned to our tasting rooms for special recycling programs.
Apart from working on all aspects of our primary and secondary packaging, we recycle as many materials as possible at all our locations, with several locations increasing recycling value by separating out glass and composting.
SUSTAINABLE WINE ROUNDTABLE
In 2021, Vintage Wine Estates became a founding member of the Sustainable Wine Round Table, a global alliance dedicated to developing a common international framework for what it means for a wine to be truly sustainable. The organization is raising the bar on sustainable practices for the wine industry and our Chief Sustainability Officer is regularly invited to speak to the global wine industry on topics from Sustainable Wine Packaging to ESG reporting to technologies that can reduce water use in the vineyards.
https://swroundtable.org (opens in a new window)
GOVERNANCE –BUSINESS WITH INTEGRITY
VWE is commited to ethical business conduct, integrity and corporate responsibility, enhancing sustainability reporting within the company and integrating strong governance and enterprise risk management oversight across all aspects of our business.
To look at the documents governing our work in this category, explore our investor site (opens in a new window), where you can find our Code of Business Conduct, our Supplier’s Code of Conduct and our Human Rights statement as well as our information about our Board Governance Committee.
