Our Environment

Our environment is the most important thing we have. Without it there is no Spy Valley Wines. As a result we are continually looking at what we can do better in reducing waste, implementing sustainable practices and protecting our irreplaceable environment.

We have a number of initiatives underway and many more ideas in the pipeline.

Our winery, all of our company vineyards and our grower vineyards are accredited under the Sustainable Winegrowing scheme which promotes economically and environmentally sustainable vineyard management. We are in the process of taking this a step further by becoming certified to the international environmental standard ISO 14001. This is an environmental management system that identifies and controls the environmental impact of activities, products and services, improves environmental performance and sets environmental objectives and targets.

We have imported a glass crushing machine from America, crushing all company and staff members' glass into a fine glass dust. This is then mixed with mulch and distributed below the grapevines to enhance light reflection into the vines. To the best of our knowledge we are the first company in NZ to import a glass crusher so that we can personally reuse the crushed glass.

We have moved from using diatomaceous earth as a filtering aid, to using a product called Auspel which is 74% silica. Unlike earth, this product can be tipped directly into the grape marc which is then used in organic mulch and supplementary farm feed. This reduces our landfill input by eliminating the need for skips for the waste earth.

Our winery wastewater is treated onsite and when it meets quality standards it is pumped over the winery lawn. Our waste plastic is baled onsite and sent to Christchurch for recycling, as is our waste cardboard. We are also active members of TerraNova – a non-profit organisation which links one company's waste to another who might have a use for it, eg. old pallets.

In the vineyard we minimise spraying and use environmentally ‘friendly' sprays wherever possible.

In the office we distribute our company newsletter by e-mail to 75% of recipients. We intend to make this 100% as soon as everyone catches on to technology. We recycle our waste paper and we have even taken the step of collecting our lunch scraps and feeding them to a very grateful Ted, a Kune kune pig. Perhaps he'll end up on the company dinner table in time...

We are still seeking ideas for the sustainable disposal of wooden vineyard intermediate posts and plastic winery hoses. Any ideas are gratefully received. E-mail them to info@spyvalley.co.nz.