| California based Kendall Jackson-owned Jackson Family Wines was declared the Green Company of the Year whereas Miguel Torres was the runner-up. There was a very close contest under this category. The winner stood out for its detailed, attractive presentation that conveyed a very serious, far reaching commitment to green issues, says the DB website. California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance group was recognized for Sustainability Award of the Year in generic category while the Portuguese producer Herdade do Esporão won the Sustainability Award. For details, visit Drink Business
The Environmental Award sponsored by Amorim was installed ‘to reward a company or campaign which demonstrates that consideration for the environment is integral to the company ethos.’ And if there’s one business for which this is the case, whatever aspect of the operation is scrutinized, it’s certainly Torres, says dB. It has over 600 hectares of organically-certified vineyards. The other 1,600 ha is in conversion steadily and completely avoids the use of chemical treatments. Torres invested €10 million in 2007 toward further sustainability within the business. It has already pledged to reduce C02 emissions by 30% per bottle by 2020. Torres has reduced gas consumption by 85% with the installation of Spain’s biggest biomass boiler while Miguel Torres Sr. has been actively promoting sustainable practices in the wine industry worldwide.
Su Birch, CEO of WOSA, who gets the Green Lifetime Achievement Award, is well-known in Indian wine trade as she has been here many times to visit various wine shows. She has been the CEO of Wines of South Africa (WOSA) since 2000. An environmentally-aware agenda has been at the heart of Su Birch’s approach in her role at the helm of generic organization, Wines of South Africa. As part of this, she has moved the South African wine industry to ensure it has become a world leader in production integrity. She has reportedly put WOSA’s full weight behind the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative (BWI), recognized today as one of the most successful conservation and business partnerships in the world, with over 130,000 hA of land now protected.
She has also been responsible for the development of the Wine of Origin sustainability seal and the driver of Cape Wine 2012, the world’s first green wine show. Thanks to her presence in the Board, green agenda will remain at the heart of the Cape’s wine industry in the future.
After the awards were announced, Su Birch announced her resignation from the top post at WOSA after overseeing ‘The Beautiful South’, a tasting of wines from Chile, Argentina and South Africa in September. “The Lifetime Achievement is a high note on which to announce my plan to leave WOSA. I shall be leaving the organization with a sound international team in place at the same time that the country has evolved into a significant player in world wine markets, well on its way to capturing and building on new opportunities,” she said as she announced her resignation. “Working to very tight budgets demands stringent discipline but also encourages creative problem-solving. This is where I believe I can play a meaningful role,” she said.
Birch said that the search for a successor would take place during the coming weeks. Birch has also been a winner of the drinks business Woman of the Year Award and the International Wine and Spirit Competition’s Women in Wine Award. She was named in the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Wine in December 2012 by the Drinks Business. Su was recognized as one of the ten most influential personalities in the world of wine by Wine Intelligence, a UK market analyst company.
Subhash Arora
Tags: Birch, Wines of South Africa, Jackson Family Wines, Miguel Torres, California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, Torres, Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Wine |