industry insights
Individual actions add up to make a big impact in the 2022 Sustainability Report New Zealand Winegrowers have released our 2022 Sustainability Report, providing a snapshot of the New Zealand wine industry’s sustainability journey. The report measures and communicates the New Zealand wine industry’s commitment and progress across six key focus areas of sustainability including: climate, water, waste, soil, plant protection, and people. Showcasing data collected from the 1840 vineyards and 310 wineries certified under the Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ) programme, the report highlights how sustainability differentiates the New Zealand wine industry on the world stage. The New Zealand wine industry has rightfully earned its place as one of the most progressive wine producing nations in the world. With the data we have available from SWNZ, we have a unique opportunity to tell our wine sustainability story at a time
Amber Silvester Communications Manager, New Zealand Winegrowers
when caring for people and place is so aligned to our customer’s values. Over 96% of all vineyard area in New Zealand is now certified as sustainable through the SWNZ programme, with 10% of New Zealand wineries holding organic certification. “It’s an achievement we can be proud of, but the real work is ensuring we not only sustain but elevate our position with an enduring commitment to continuous improvement,” says Dr Edwin Massey, New Zealand Winegrower’s General Manager of Sustainability. For our growers and wineries, sustainability means growing grapes and producing our world-famous wines in such a way that we can do so for generations to come. Every little bit counts. It means consumers can trust that their bottle of New Zealand wine has been made with respect for our world and for our people. Find the New Zealand Winegrowers Sustainability Report 2022 online, check out nzwine.com/sustainability.
Calories, kilojoules and claims Later this year Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) – the regulatory body that looks after the food code and deals with labelling requirements for Australia and New Zealand – will be consulting on two pieces of work that could lead to alcohol producers required to provide consumer information on labels, as well as possibly restrict the ability to make some claims about their products. These two pieces of work relate to the introduction of energy labelling and the ability to make low or no sugar and carbohydrate claims. The former – energy labelling – would place the requirement for alcohol producers to label their product with the amount of kilojoules or calories present. This will likely be in the form of a truncated Nutritional Information Panel like what you see on other foods, but only with calories/kjs. And, depending on feedback from stakeholders (industry, public health groups and others), may be per serve and or per 100ml. The key for our sector if this is implemented is to ensure the cost on implementation and measuring these levels is kept at a minimum. This could be through using standardised tables or measurements for styles and levels of alcohol content for energy.
6 THE SHOUT NZ – JULY 2022
Dylan Firth Executive Director, Brewers Association of New Zealand
Secondly, and likely more contentious for some, is the ability to make carbohydrate and sugar claims. In 2018, the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation directed FSANZ to investigate this matter which it was determined should run alongside the energy labelling work to align any potential changes. This piece of work will look at whether it is appropriate for low and no carb and sugar claims in the sector. For many this will be of concern given the growth of low and no sugar and carb beverages in the last few years. For beer alone, low carb products made up 8% of the entire sector in 2021. Public consultations for these will run in late 2022 and we encourage you to get involved and have a say.
