Sustainability
Punt Road Wines is a certified member of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, a nationally recognised certification program for vineyards and wineries who want to be engaged, environmental stewards. Punt Road is one of the few wineries in the Yarra Valley that has achieved certification. This certification was obtained after a third party audit assessed our winery's environmental performance and set goals for improvement over a three year period. These goals include reducing energy, water, and resource consumption.
Punt Road Wines is committed to reducing its environmental footprint and positively impacting the communities in which we operate.
In 2020, we installed a 99 kWh Solar Array on the winery's roof, offsetting our power needs by around 400kw per day. To put this in context, an average household of 3 people uses around 18kw per day.
We capture wastewater that is used for washing winery equipment and barrels and transport it into storage and treatment ponds. That water is then reused in vineyard irrigation, aligning with our commitment to producing sustainable small vineyard wines Australia.
Once our grapes are fermented and pressed, the remaining skins (marc) are composted and reapplied as fertiliser on the vineyards.
Since 2023, we have implemented smarter use of our refrigeration equipment, with over 20% energy use reductions already measured. We also retrofitted our original winery plumbing and drainage, reducing winery water use by around 20%. These actions reflect our ongoing commitment to the principles of sustainable wine Australia.
Reduce and Reuse
Did you know that packaging production and transport account for up to 70% of all CO2 emissions related to wine businesses? Therefore, action on packaging is essential if we are to minimise our environmental footprint.
Punt Road is a signatory to the Australian Packaging Covenant - a national scheme under which businesses and government share responsibility for managing the environmental impacts of packaging. Under this covenant, Punt Road is required to create and report on an annual action plan. For our 2024 releases, we are moving to lightweight glass and have stopped using cardboard dividers in our cartons. The first of this stock has been released and will continue to hit the market as we transition the other lines from our range. We estimate this will reduce the overall CO2 emissions from these products by up to 15%. Our ongoing efforts underscore the significance of our sustainable winegrowing Australia certification.
