The environmental communication has exploded in just few years. Not only regarding wine, but for almost all product groups and industries. Environmental concern has suddenly become one of the most important topics to communicate for many companies. I think this is 100% positive. I want to base my daily choices according to their environmental cause. Doing that, I want to guarantee, or at least believe doing so, that in future my children can enjoy the planet as it is today.

In a supermarket I often find myself wondering, for example, around washing powders or detergents (the fact that I buy them does not mean that I use them…) I want to buy something that does not destroy the sea when flushed down the drain. Almost each packaging has a logo that communicates some level of environmental care. Some I am not familiar with, some I am, but still without knowing which one to trust and if there is a difference.

Similarly to chemicals that destroy our planet, I am worried about the carbon footprint that my choices leave. Therefore I have created a habit to buy local stuff if possible when doing my food shopping. Especially in winter I anyhow find myself wondering which one cause less damage, buying local tomatoes (for example) that have been planted in heated and strongly illuminated green houses or those imported from a longer distance but warmer conditions where green houses are not needed.

So my head is full of questions and concerns. Whilst the discussion and amount of information increases, it does not get any easier. The amount of terms, certifications, logo’s, organizations that I need to be familiar with just keeps increasing.

What comes to wine, there is plenty of stuff (terms, certifications, organizations, claims and info in general) that is related to environmental communication. Part of that is clear and simple, and can be communicated on the consumer level. Another part is less clear, raises questions, is beyond consumer understanding and far too difficult to communicate or is just not 100% bullet proof.

The terms that you should be familiar with to be up-to-date with the current communication include sustainability, organic, carbon footprint and carbon neutrality. If you want to go level up you should also familiarise yourself with few ISO certifications (14001 and 14064). In addition to these, there are numerous more personal claims that individual companies make about their environmental efforts.

I think producers should understand to take the responsibility of keeping the communication simple and clear. If and when efforts are communicated, consumers should be able to easily check how they match with his/her needs and compare with other products of the same group. In simple terms this means, please get a certification.

For wine, there are some interesting improvements going to take place in near future that should be helpful. The most clarifying of those is the carbon footprint labelling. Depending on the country and product in question, that is going to start being required in the packaging information by the authorities or customers such as supermarket chains.  This information will help us understand the carbon footprints of the products we are buying and will work for the benefit of those producers that make efforts in making the number smaller.  Another one is regarding sustainability. Sustainability is a vague term which is used by the wineries to describe environmental efforts of very different levels. Some of the communicated efforts are very big and even exceed those that can be certified. Some, on the other hand, are very superficial, that other wineries would just consider as normal part of their actions without making noise about it.

The use of term sustainable has become so widely used and gained familiarity with consumers that further specification is starting to take place. There are already some programs and codes about sustainability, such as the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. This is a program created by Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers to promote the benefits of sustainable winegrowing practises. The Alliance has been developing a certification program that is going to be launched this month (January 2010). Hopefully, this certification will encourage similar programs to be promoted in other major wine regions and finally end up as one certification that any producer around the world can participate.

So far the best explanation for Sustainability that I have found is by Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former Prime Minister of Norway in 1987 (cited by Paul Dolan): “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

I am excited about the future where companies, including wineries have to take more responsibility about the environment and the communication about the efforts is getting better regulated. So far it has seemed that communication about the efforts has been the most important part of the process. This has given the impression that the benefit goes for companies that have the guts to shout it out loudest and not for those who make the biggest efforts.


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