In a state first Bilbul-based De Bortoli’s Wines has been recognised for its commitment to improving the sustainability of its business at a ceremony in Sydney this month – all thanks to a project five years in the making.
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The winery was awarded NSW’s first sustainability advantage platinum project for outstanding environmental leadership and innovation and is the only business in the state to to have reached this level as part of a flagship program.
The program, the Office of Environment and Heritage’s sustainability advantage program, encourages and enables sustainable best practice in businesses across the state.
It is a category the winery in recent times has excelled in, thanks to the ‘De Bortoli method’ - a potassium recovery system turning the winery’s wastewater into an environmentally friendly cleaning agent.
Receiving the certificate on behalf of the winery health and safety environment manager Lindsay Gullifer said he was proud of the work of the dedicated team behind the achievement.
“We’re really making progress to leave a positive legacy for the next generation,” he said.
“Potassium recovery is of value because it creates a closed loop system to reduce consumption of harmful chemicals in cleaning our tanks and machinery,” he explained.
The method is one in a list of energy and water management initiatives De Bortoli’s has taken in an effort to become a ‘Zero Waste Winery’.
A core part of this effort has been their work in addressing sodium salinity and water availability – things the winery says are key environmental risks for any business operating in the Murray Darling Basin.
The push came a decade ago when managing director Darren De Bortoli decided to go ‘no added sodium’ in a bid to reduce soil salinity, setting in motion an improvement cycle where everything from viticulture to bottling is considered through a sustainability lens.
The winery hopes to have 30 per cent of their Riverina vineyards organic in the next five years.