Marlborough Environment Award Winner

Achieving carbonzero has been good for Lawson’s Dry Hills sustainability footprint, its efficiency, and its relationship with consumers, says marketing manager Belinda Jackson. And the team is enjoying the opportunity to share their story with other wine companies keen to reduce emissions and increase their sustainability. “Its bonus is being able to pass it on,” she says, in the wake of Lawson’s Dry Hills winning the Wine Industry category at the 2021 Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards. “To get all of us as dedicated to reducing our environmental footprint as possible.”

In 2011 Lawson’s became one of the first wineries to achieve ISO 14001 accreditation, which encompasses sustainability measures across the whole business. Power and water use has been substantially reduced, bottles and packaging have a high recycled content, and they are constantly finding ways to reduce plastic use. “We have seen real benefits across our business,” says general manager Sion Barnsley. “It has made us think smarter.” This year the company became a Tōitu certified carbonzero organisation by achieving ISO 14064, making it the only wine company in the country to achieve both accreditations. “It is really neat to be able to show other producers that this is totally doable and very rewarding,” says Belinda. There is “a real sense of pride” in marketing their wines to the world, knowing that the certifications – and now this award – endorse the standards they have achieved, she adds. “And we know that more and more consumers are looking for products that actually do the right thing by the environment… It’s a pleasure to be able to make great wines with no compromise that tick all the environmental boxes.”

Wine Marlborough sponsors the Wine Category of the Environment Awards, and general manager Marcus Pickens says it is inspiring to see an established business like Lawson’s, “with deep roots in Marlborough”, continue to innovate and search for a range of solutions. The positive moves being made by wine companies in the sustainability space are vitally important, he says. “The Marlborough and New Zealand wine industry are not only looking to be leaders regionally, but nationally and internationally also.” Read more about the Lawson’s Dry Hills sustainability journey in the June edition of Winepress