100 days and 100 members for EntWine Australia
The wine industry’s national environmental assurance program has signed up more than 100 members in its first 100 days.
Launched on December 7 last year, EntWine Australia has received the strongest early support from grape growers, particularly in South Australia.
“This is a very heartening response to a new, voluntary program given that it has been the busiest time of the year for the wine sector,” said the Manager of Natural Resources with the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA), Jonathan Green.
“Many other wineries and vineyard operators have completed training and are now preparing for the certification process so we expect the steady growth to continue. I’d hope to pass 200 members by the end of the year.”
Potential membership also has been boosted by the recent decision to recognise ISO 14001, which several large companies currently utilise, as an approved certification scheme for use by EntWine Australia members.
Mr Green said the high percentage of vineyards among the first 100 members was to be expected, particularly as it had taken longer to finalise the audit process for wineries.
“A number of large companies have focussed on encouraging and assisting their suppliers to meet EntWine Australia’s requirements before seeking formal accreditation for their own, usually well developed, environmental systems,” he said.
“Companies such as Foster’s, Pernod Ricard, Lion Nathan, and De Bortoli, which provided invaluable assistance during the development phase, have continued as strong supporters and were joined recently by Casella and Yalumba.”
Twelve vineyards and eight wineries have already achieved full membership, meaning they have had their operations certified against a recognised, independently audited environmental certification program and are monitoring their carbon emissions and resource use. The other vineyards are preliminary members, having met all other EntWine Australia requirements and begun the certification process.
All members are listed on a searchable database on the EntWine Australia website at www.wfa.org.au/entwineaustralia.
