Sustainability
The Other Wine Co. is its completely own brand, proudly made at Shaw + Smith. It has a separate, young gun winemaker in Matt Large, but gets to play with the fancy toys. Win, win for all.
Fittingly, their sustainability journeys are linked, though The Other Wine Co. is leading the charge in lightening up (say, what? Read on).
The most important parts
We're all about experimentation – wine wise, and other. Does it excite us? Tick.
Case in point, we’ve just bottled the first of our vintage 2023 releases in lightweight glass (aka, ‘lightweighted’). With packaging and transport comprising 78% of our industries carbon footprint, the need to lighten up has never been greater. Our new bottles weigh 34% less than previous vintages, reducing emissions at all stages of the wine’s life cycle.
Here’s a short and shiny on what else we’re up to:
- Working with growers to promote sustainable viticultural practices.
- Reduced energy usage in the winery, through quadrupled solar capacity.
- 100% recycling of water generated in production.
- Increased percentage of recycled content in all dry goods, including plastics.
More details please
Vineyards – where great things start.
We’re super lucky to partner with some amazing growers, doing exciting things in the sustainable farming space.
A few examples:
- Ricca Terra Farms, home of our Arinto, champion the message of growing the right grape in the right place. Their Riverland vineyard is planted to Mediterranean varieties on drought resistant rootstocks.
- Longview Vineyard, where we are lucky to snare our Barbera, and our largest Pinot Gris grower in the Adelaide Hills, are both members of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia.
Into the winery
Unsurprisingly, making wine is an energy and water intensive affair, particularly during vintage. 2023 saw Shaw + Smith increasing their solar capacity by ~300%. This all but wipes out peak energy demands.
Major wastewater upgrades in 2020 mean that 100% of water generated through the winery can be diverted for vineyard and lawn irrigation.
Big tickets aside, 100% of the winery, office and bottling areas are LED lit. There are also plenty of toys for minimising water usage and capturing heated water from refrigeration for use in winery processes.
Packaging, recycling, upcycling
The need for ongoing innovation in this space has never been greater. We keep a constant ear to the ground for new technologies, and are working with suppliers to jump on opportunities as they come online.
Lightweight bottles aside, here are some of our other plays:
- A switch to kraft coloured cartons, significantly reducing ink usage.
- Reducing transport related emissions by -
- Sourcing all packaging (glass, cartons, screwcaps) from Adelaide based, domestic suppliers.
- Developing a circular economy for our transport requirements (put simply, trucks bring packaging up, and take bottled wine back. No empty trailers = time on the road, halved).
- 100% recyclable products, and recycled where available.
- Responsible reuse or recycling of 100% of the cardboard, glass, paper, and plastic produced onsite. This includes some fun initiatives, like collecting label backing to be converted to tissue paper.
For more details, check out sustainability policy.