Sustainability in wine making

Yalumba Wine Company demonstrates success in adopting an 'ecosystem' approach to vineyard management.

As a wine business operating in the rural environment of the Barossa Valley for more than 150 years, Yalumba understands the significance of sustainability. Therefore, Yalumba does not only aim to meet its legal obligations but, as part of normal operating practice, also strives to integrate cost-effective environmental and social objectives into relevant business activities.

Its sustainability activities are recognised as an important aspect of wine quality and include such things as product stewardship, waste management and environmental citizenship.

By addressing those activities that have a significant environmental impact Yalumba ensures its employees and other stakeholders a healthy and productive life in an environment that is safe, aesthetically pleasing and ecologically functional.

Yalumba's senior technical manager on environmental matters, Cecil Camilleri, says, "Yalumba is committed to working cooperatively with its suppliers of goods and services to help them minimise their environmental impacts by adopting clean technology and best practice procedures."

This approach to supply chain management is emphasised through its integrated procurement policy, which strives to strike a balance between price, quality, environmental and safety issues, and availability.

All things being equal, Yalumba also strives to give preference to locally produced goods and services. Furthermore, the company seeks to encourage its customers to dispose of product packaging in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

Yalumba's Environmental Management System (EMS), based on an ISO14001 template, is a systematic approach to managing actual or potential impacts on the environment. It provides Yalumba with a management framework to achieve continuous improvement through a 'plan, do, check, act' cycle within which best business practices can be integrated.

Yalumba has a solid waste reduction and recycling program, and continues to explore best available technology economically achievable to reduce, recycle and reuse wastewater produced from its operations. Under South Australia's Environment Protection Act, winemaking operations are subject to agreed licence conditions aimed at minimising significant environmental impacts from the management of winery by-products.

Yalumba has also devised its Vitis Program to address its responsibilities in land stewardship. It promotes an integrated approach to vineyard management, which makes efficient use of natural resources, stems environmental decline, regenerates resources and advances environmental health and safety for all stakeholders.

Vitis is a holistic approach, promoting the economic production of quality grapes with a minimal reliance on pesticides and maximum attention to environmental outcomes. It is an ecosystem approach to vineyard management that involves setting aside some land for conservation purposes as part of a biodiversity action plan.

As a signatory to the National Packaging Covenant and other international post-consumer packaging schemes, Yalumba is implementing a comprehensive action plan to demonstrate continuous improvement in packaging waste reduction and management. The action plan includes aspects of packaging design and production as well as consumer education.

Yalumba is also the first Australian wine company, and one of the first enterprises operating in the agricultural sector, to undertake a Greenhouse Challenge cooperative agreement, having joined the program in 1999.

It has adopted a life cycle approach to continuous improvement in energy conservation, efficient energy consumption, fuel substitution and clean technology.

Camilleri says that environmental citizenship is the most fundamental component of Yalumba's sustainability program, "...environmental gains cannot be achieved without an informed and active stakeholder group."