In Support of the NZ Wine Industry

Wine Searcher Magazine recently published an article that described the Champagne wine growing region in France as

“increasingly resembling a nuclear wasteland”

due to toxic herbicide use (Henry, 2022). The writer goes on to discuss the disastrous effects of these chemicals on local rivers, drinking water, and the much further reaching and longer term climate impacts.

In contrast, 96% of all vineyard areas in Aotearoa New Zealand are certified by Sustainable Wine Growing New Zealand (SWNZ), a world leading programme led by trade body, NZ Winegrowers (champions of sustainability). The NZ certification is the world’s first sustainability programme (established 1994) and is underpinned by the philosophy of custodial responsibility and protection of the land, embodied in the Māori concept of kaitiakitangi. The association recognises that beyond great taste, modern consumers want

“wines with an authentic and sustainable life story”.

Those bearing the SWNZ logo are guaranteed sustainable from grape to glass.

We are proud to welcome New Zealand’s National Wine Growing Association to the HazEL fold. We share their mission and their values, and we applaud their world leading efforts to settle for nothing less than best practice.