green cork
By Saralyn Mehta, Sommelier( ISG), CSW
I was a teenager in the 1980s, when the only cultural reference to the word“ green” meant money( and the unfortunate colour I chose to dye my hair for one week in 1987).
Now I am the mother of a seven year-old boy named Max and“ green” has taken on a whole new meaning, forcing me to ask: what environmental legacy will my generation leave for the next?
As a Canadian Sommelier, I began to wonder what the industry that sustains me and my family is doing to sustain our planet. Given the Canadian focus in this issue of The Cellar Door, I decided to probe into the environmental habits of the Ontario wine industry. May I just take a moment to say that, as Canadians, we should be monumentally impressed with their efforts!
When I began my inquiry, I expected to find a lot of information on wineries that produce organically and or biodynamically, and I did— but I also found so much more. It seems that the Ontario wine industry takes the approach that great fruit can only continue to be produced if the land that produces it is treated with total respect. From the fields where they grow the grapes to the buildings where they produce the wine,“ green” measures are being implemented everywhere.
One of the Niagara region’ s premier wineries, Stratus, recently completed construction on Canada’ s first LEED( Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified winery. The Stratus winery is built from recycled materials, equipped with energy-efficient geothermal heating and cooling, landscaped with indigenous vegetation that helps to make the soil drought-proof, and armed with a state-of-the-art waste water system. Every product used in the facility aims to leave a green footprint; even the company car is a hybrid. The new facility allows the wines to be produced using gravity flow techniques. Not only is this a technique used in quality winemaking, it also reduces the amount of energy consumed by eliminating the use of pumps to move the wine around the facility.
Neighbouring Southbrook Winery recently unveiled a new LEED-certified hospitality pavilion, which houses its much-anticipated tasting room. In November of 2008, Southbrook became the first winery in Canada to be certified by Demeter, the international body that oversees biodynamic agriculture. Their commitment to sustainability is passionate and impressive. In my research, I came across so many examples of environmental awareness in the Ontario wine industry that I began to wonder what was spurring this on. Such a small, young wine industry with such a great commitment to our planet is impressive, but why?
The answer came in the form of a charter launched by the Wine Council of Ontario( WCO), in conjunction with Niagara College, called Sustainable Winemaking Ontario. The project was piloted in 2007 with 17 wineries participating. The goal of the program is to see improvements in energy use per unit of production, decreases in water use, improved management in waste water, and more efficient use of materials throughout the businesses. Over the long-term, the objectives include measuring improvements in air quality, water quality, wastewater management, and natural resource management. The program is set up so wineries can collect their data, submit it to the council, and receive feedback about their environmental performance, as well as benchmarks to achieve.
Sustainable Winemaking Ontario has garnered significant international interest with requests for information from Australia, Europe, and the USA. British Columbia is looking at developing a charter of their own, which could provide an opportunity to see a Canada-wide initiative. Not bad for little ol’ Canada, eh?
I guess I can sleep easy knowing that the industry I work in is doing its best to leave Max and his generation a sustainable,“ green” future. The only thing keeping me up now is worrying about how long it will be before he dyes his hair green. �
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