I am very pleased to see that the South Africa wine industry has launched the world’s first sustainability seal for bottled wine as a guarantee of eco-friendly production.
The seal, issued by the Wine and Spirit Board, is backed by a sophisticated tracking system in which bottle contents can be traced back to source at every stage of the supply chain to confirm the integrity of their production.
“Every seal carries a unique number, through which the wine’s provenance can be tracked from vine to bottle,” Wine Times reported.
“Effective from 2010, the voluntary system is available to those wineries to have passed the accreditation of the Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) set of sustainable principles, at farm, winery and bottling levels. IPW covers a range of issues such as integrated pest management, the health of workers, the conservation of biodiversity and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
“The seal is the result of collaboration between the Wine & Spirits Board, IPW, as well as the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI) and Wines of South Africa (WOSA) with the generic marketing body responsible for the worldwide launch of the concept as part of its Brand South Africa campaign.”
“Although other countries are introducing similar initiatives on a limited scale, at this stage South Africa is the only country to have the means to implement and certify the concept across the entire wine industry”, Wines of South Africa Su Birch, speaking on behalf of the initiative, was quoted as saying.