The 2023 Gucci Golden Vines®
Sustainability Award

The Award

The Gucci Golden Vines® Sustainability Award recognises and celebrates those wineries who are taking an industry-leading position in promoting and practising sustainable business, in both the vineyard and beyond.

Great wine is inherently the product of exceptional individuals working with outstanding terroir. The fundamental connection between people and place makes fine wine unique amongst alcoholic beverages. By making this connection ever more sustainable, while still producing an exceptional wine, wineries have an unprecedented opportunity to engage with their audiences, sharing their sustainability stories and achievements and in so doing become the ‘sustainable drink of choice.

The Criteria

Applications were open to any winery producing exceptional wine, from its own vineyards within recognised quality regions. These commitments were ideally to be part of a long-term strategy, but as an annual Award, particular focus was given by the Judges to activities within the last 12 months. 

The Judges examined each application in accordance with the following criteria:

  • Measurable improvements in the environmental impact of vineyard and winery operations, addressing issues linked to natural resource use, water and waste management, increased biodiversity, which may extend to regenerative, organic or biodynamic farming practices;

  • A demonstrable commitment towards social improvement both within the workforce and the surrounding community. Within this, recognition will also be given to any initiative supporting diversity within the industry;

  • A clear reduction in the carbon footprint across all aspects of the business, both within direct winery operations, but also extending to the wider supply chain; and

  • New innovations and long-term investment in support of the above.

The Judges

The Winner

Emidio Pepe

True leaders in the field of sustainable winemaking, Emidio Pepe is a family winery established in 1964 and from day one was run with an unwavering commitment to making fine wine whilst preserving nature and respecting traditional farming and winemaking practises; this was at a time when sustainability was unheard of, and the world was rapidly evolving toward the use of herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers to help boost yields and manage quality. As a result, Emidio Pepe has always produced wines of distinction, that truly reflect their unique terroir and have an amazing capacity to age. The winery remains family owned, and the new generations continue to embrace modernity and are employing precision agriculture alongside traditional practices that, due to the vision of their founder, are proving as relevant today as they have ever been. Their submission for the award demonstrated that sustainability is a fundamental part of their DNA. Their achievements also highlight that even the smallest of wineries can compete with larger corporations when it comes to making great wine whilst respecting nature and the community, and in so doing, have an enviable track record of success over a long period of time.

The Runners-Up

Huber

Weingut Markus Huber has been guided by the same family for 10 generations, meaning they have strong ties to the land on which they grow their vines, and a focus upon preserving it for future generations, all while working closely with the local community. In pursuit of these aims, Huber are certified within the “Sustainable Austria” programme, which recognises the high standards to which they hold themselves: all of their farming methods are certified as organic, with a focus upon biodiversity and regenerative practices; and furthermore, all of their auxiliary suppliers are situated in Austria, thereby reducing transport emissions when sourcing materials such as glass and cartons. Heating for the entire winery is provided by wood chips, which are produced exclusively from their own cleared vineyards or dead wood found in their forests, and in 2022 Huber built a 3MW solar energy plant on their land, which has gone on to produce clean, discounted electricity for the local community that would have otherwise produced 2,317 tons of CO2 if generated through non-renewable means.

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The Runners-Up

Ornellaia

Based in Bulgari, Tuscany, Ornellaia is a legend among the ‘Super-Tuscan’ producers. Founded in 1981 and now present in 95 markets globally, they have adopted a range of sustainability policies which aim to bring about concrete and measurable benefits: committing to analysing and improving their knowledge of their impacts, across all facets of their production chain; contributing to sustainability in the wine industry through collaboration and sharing of research and knowledge; and supporting integrated agriculture to preserve and improve quality. Some of Onrellaia’s achievements include eliminating the use of plastic in both their canteen and in the packaging of their wooden wine cases, switching to biodegradable materials instead; reducing the weights of their bottles by 72 tonnes, greatly minimising the CO2 emissions given off in their production and transport; and paying attention to the wellbeing of their workers through offering more secure contracts for their seasonal workers, and supplying them with 32 electric vehicles and clippers to ease their work in the vineyard.

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The Runners-Up

Sogrape

Founded in 1942, with vineyards in Portugal, Spain, Chile, Argentina and New Zealand, Sogrape has been committed to a family culture which respects all the stakeholders of their business: customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers and, or course, the vineyards themselves. By 2027, they aim to: reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by 50%, combining this with carbon storage to achieve net-zero; use 100% renewable energy in all their global operations, and encourage their international partners to do the same; systematically introduce circular and nature based solutions to problems; and work collaboratively with all of their farmers to help them become more environmentally and economically sustainable. They are already well on the way to reaching these goals; 52% of all their electricity is purchased from renewable sources, while newly installed solar panels provide 16% of their electrical needs, reducing CO2 emissions by 600 tonnes; and an average of 70.8% of their bottles are lightweight, greatly reducing their environmental impact.

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The Runners-Up

Spier

Founded in 1692 in South Africa’s Cape region, Spier aims to be a force for good across all aspects of their business, desiring to be a positive force for both people and the planet. One of the key ways they manifest this objective is through their focus upon ethical and responsible sourcing. They ensure that all of their suppliers are compliant with South African labour and health and safety legislation, and seek to develop relationships with them which are long-term and mutually beneficial. Spier was one of South Africa’s first wineries to be certified by the Wine and Agricultural Ethical Trade Association in 2004, and seeks to build its supply chains and partnerships upon the firm foundations of mutual trust, transparency and collaboration. In 2021, Spier committed nearly ZAR700,000 towards their social compliance initiatives, which tackles pressing issues among workers across their supply chain such as domestic- and gender-based violence, with gender-based violence training that educates and empowers farm workers being delivered on 14 farms in 2021 and reaching 424 workers.

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