Sustainability in the Winery
At Wiston Estate we are committed to sustainable winemaking practices, from vineyard to winery. We are thrilled to have been accredited under the Sustainable Wines of Great Britain (SWGB) scheme for both our vineyard and winery.
WHAT THIS MEANS?
Our purpose at Wiston has always been “To foster a rural meeting place where people, nature and enterprise can coexist and flourish.” We are committed to sustainable practices across the estate, and we are on a constant journey to learn how to do this better. Being part of the SWGB scheme means we have worked to:
- Manage our vineyards sustainability, with minimal pesticide and fertiliser inputs.
- Protect our vineyard Soils, conserve the environment and promote biodiversity.
- Minimise our vineyard carbon footprint per hectare.
- Enhance the sustainability of our winery design and winemaking practices.
- Minimise the volume of water used per bottle of wine and dispose of our winery wastewater responsibly.
- Reduce our carbon footprint per bottle of wine.
SUSTAINABILITY IN THE VINEYARD
We are always striving to find ways of improving our processes to reduce our carbon footprint. In the winter months we allow sheep to graze in between the vines, completing the nutrient cycle of nutrients eaten, digested, dropped, degraded and allowed back to the vines. We have introduced bee hives into the vineyards to further help biodiversity and pollination of wildflowers and trees – the honey is then used in Chalk.
We create our own compost with the help of local farmers, meaning less carbon emissions from transport. At harvest we reduced the quantity of plastic used, in fact removed it entirely, by using material straps to secure crates onto pallets rather than pallet wrap, which is un-recyclable. After harvest, the pressed grape skins are composted and returned to the vineyard and after pruning, the removed wood is mulched back into the soil. In spring we plant cover crops in between the rows of vines to improve soil structure, increase the natural biodiversity, and as a result this is beneficial for feeding our resident sheep!
WORDS FROM THE TEAM
We spoke to our Assistant Vineyard Manager, Tom Bailey about the SWGB scheme: “It’s a big achievement for the vineyard and for the team. A big part of our ethos when managing the vineyard is sustainability, so it’s nice to have an accreditation that recognises our work. Some specific things that were good about the SWGB process is the way that we were able to document all our waste and other inputs and get an accurate view of our carbon footprint – therefore look at which areas we can target, and work to reduce it. But at the same time it was very vindicating to see that our management practices leave us carbon negative, not only offsetting the carbon emissions we produce – but also those of the winery. This came in large part thanks to carbon sequestration in the soil, which shows that our management of the soil – such as the growing of the cover crops, reducing (with a view to eliminating) soil disturbance, and focusing on how we can return organic matter to the soil – is not only sustainable, but regenerative.”
SUSTAINABILITY IN THE WINERY
Like the vineyard, we constantly strive to make our winery processes as sustainable as possible. This translates into the winery practices which we employ. Solar panels on the roofs of our buildings help power the winery to minimise greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our carbon footprint. The storage sheds where our wines age is insulated as opposed to refrigerated, therefore relying on natural, ambient temperature alone.
Packaging is a huge area for sustainable winemaking – we package our cases using paper tape which can then be recycled, and all the cardboard we use in the winery is either re-used or recycled. All used corks are collected and recycled by Recorked UK. We minimise water use by steam cleaning tanks and equipment. Once our barrels are beyond use for winemaking, we pass them onto Chalk Restaurant to use for smoking food or they are used as water butts or flower planters. At the end of a vintage the leftover grape juice which cannot be used for winemaking is distilled for our special Gin.
WORKING TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE
Our Assistant Winemaker, Megan Rayner-Ward leads the management of making our winery more sustainable. We spoke to Meg about how she found the SWGB process: “I really honed in on and scrutinised two areas I thought we could make a real difference to; materials and packaging inputs, and the subsequent waste generated and secondly the general waste streams. I think with some thought over the next year, we can really reduce what goes to landfill and increase our composting and recycling from our initial baseline figures. We have already made some positive changes since gaining our certification, so I’m looking forward to seeing future results!”
We love welcoming people to the estate. Why not book yourself and a friend on a winery Tour & Tasting to visit our sustainable winery, and taste what comes off the land here on the South Downs.
