ESTATES – January 2023

Stellenbosch Vineyards awarded Carbon Hero status

Stellenbosch Vineyards has been awarded Carbon Hero status through the Confronting Climate Change Initiative, as part of Advini South Africa’s extensive sustainability drive.  

The Confronting Climate Change (CCC) Initiative is a carbon footprinting project, developed to support the South African fruit and wine sectors through identifying and responding to the risks and opportunities associated with carbon emissions. The Carbon Heroes carbon footprint label and website were launched at the end of 2021 to recognise wineries for meticulously calculating their carbon footprint and responding to improve emissions.  

The CCC audit evaluates carbon emissions, including electricity, processing inputs, packaging and waste. “Continuous improvement is a cornerstone of our sustainability programme and efficiently measuring carbon emissions is the first step in understanding where improvements can be made,” explains Stellenbosch Vineyards’ compliance manager, Mathilda Malan. 

Stellenbosch Vineyards’ carbon emission report revealed that glass and electricity account for the largest percentage of the winery’s carbon emissions. “We have already started the process of using locally-produced, light weight glass, as well as sustainable alternative packaging,” explains Stellenbosch Vineyards’ operations manager, Delana Green. “As Advini South Africa’s innovation and logistics hub, Stellenbosch Vineyards is well positioned to find innovative means of lowering our overall carbon footprint sustainably, through consolidated sourcing of recyclable packaging that is lighter and produced from recycled material,” explains Green, whose surname is indicative of her priorities.  

Emissions through electricity generation will be addressed in 2023 through the installation of 950 solar panels on Stellenbosch Vineyards’ roof, with a maximum generation capacity of 523kWp. According to Stellenbosch Vineyards’ general manager, JG de Villiers, this investment will not only reduce the cellar’s carbon emission, but reduce risk caused by load shedding in South Africa. “Shifting away from coal-dependent electricity generation in South Africa is vital. Our vineyards benefit from ample Stellenbosch sunlight – there’s no reason why that should not also be the case for our electricity generation!” explains De Villiers. 

The CCC Carbon Heroes report provides winery consumption benchmarks, which show current industry norms and values, allowing individual wineries to compare their own consumption. “One of the areas in which Stellenbosch Vineyards’ winemaking team specifically excelled was reducing waste water to levels far lower than the industry standard.  We have committed to wide-ranging targets for 2023, which will drive our operations and motivate the team, as part of Advini’s global commitment to environmental sustainability,” explains Malan.  

About Stellenbosch Vineyards

Stellenbosch Vineyards is the smart solutions and innovation hub of Advini South Africa, based on the historic Welmoed Farm on the slopes of the Vlaeberg mountains in Stellenbosch. With access to vineyards throughout Stellenbosch from 15 dedicated growers, this winery is also the house of brands for global commercial wine brands including Welmoed and Arniston Bay, as well as specialised, single vineyard and niche crafted wines.  

As part of Advini South Africa’s sustainability commitment, solar panels will be installed at the Stellenbosch Vineyards logistic hub in 2023. 

For more information, contact Advini South Africa’s Strategic Development and Marketing Director, Dr Edo Heyns: edo.heyns@advini.com.