Chat with Vinny
Few obsess about the weather more than wine growers.
I should know, I’ve done it all my life. When you spend your days looking at weather apps and living through the seasons it is difficult not to notice how quickly our world is changing.
Talk to any of our winemakers around the world – at last count 454 of them – and the message is the same …
They only get one shot a year at greatness, and climate change is making it harder and harder.
Every year there is a new disaster story:
Jean-Charles after a freak hailstorm destroyed 90% of his crop in Provence, our Aussie mates seeing vineyards literally going up in smoke, the South Africans when their rivers ran dry.
The list goes on.
The bottom line? Without a stable climate there can be no great wines. Worse still, it puts the wineries and the communities that depend on them in jeopardy.
So … what to do about it?
Well, while we’re humble enough to know we can’t change the world on our own, we can try to change the bit we know best … the wine world.
No PR stunts. No greenwashing. Just hard work and trying to do the right thing. Afterall, we’re a family business – planning for another 50 great years and beyond.
Here, then, is what we’ve actually DONE. And what’s COMING SOON.
Henry Laithwaite
Winemaker, Harrow & Hope
We're committed to environmentally friendly initiatives right across business and beyond - because we believe wine shouldn't cost the earth
One of the big industry-wide challenges is the carbon-footprint impact of manufacturing glass and transporting bottles. And while we don't have all the answers yet, we've made some very important steps forwards in our journey this year, including the introduction of more lighter-weight bottles and packaging innovations.
It's been great to see customers get behind these efforts. We still have a long way to go, but we'll get there. We have a responsibility to the next generation of customers, winemakers, wine growers and employees to do so.
Posted on March 15, 2023
by Laithwaites Wine
Meet Duncan Savage – one of the hottest young winemakers of the Cape. Critic Tim Atkin MW said of him, “Duncan Savage thinks he hasn’t hit his full potential yet. Heaven help his rivals when he does”! Yet, despite the praise he’s heaped with, he’s a modest guy, full of enthusiasm, passion and positivity. Even through Covid, with its added difficulties – no export sales for a time and, at one point, no domestic sales either. A beach ban was the nearest he got to a meltdown!
He is the great guy behind the vibrant Hommage à B Syrah – a sensational red that only happened thanks to the support he received from Vineyard Partners. The wine is tribute to his great friend and grower, Boetie, who died only a few years back, far too young. Thanks to your support, Duncan can hold back the grapes from Boetie’s vineyard each year to make this fabulously sleek, pure-fruit Syrah … powerful, but elegant, more Côte-Rôtie than South African.
Posted on March 1, 2023
by Laithwaites Wine
Understand the problem
2020: Appointed a technical partner, EcoAct, to complete our first annual Carbon Footprint estimate, highlighting the importance of emissions in our supply chain (Scope 3).
Get the right people in the room
2021: Held first supplier workshop to lend expertise and practical support for wineries where helpful (includes carbon footprinting, energy monitoring, renewable energy assessments and soil health assessments).
2021: Appointed Chris Millson into new role as Head of Sustainability.
Exciting first steps, learning as we go
2020: Our warehouse moved to closed-loop recycling, meaning zero waste goes to landfill.
2021: Began supporting tree-planting projects to offset all emissions from home deliveries.
2022: Big push into energy efficient and lightweight alternatives to glass bottles.
Launched first ‘paper’ bottle
Two top-sellers in TetraPak
UK’s first 100% recycled glass bottles (w/o Frappato)
Increased bag in box sales by 425%
… and continue to reduce bottle weights as new vintages are released
Explaining to customers why we’re advocating for these changes
2022: On track to double ‘bulk’ shipments by end of 2023, where wine is left in large containers for bottling in the UK rather being bottled in the country of origin and having to ship heavy and space-inefficient glass bottles around the world.
2022: Created ‘climate leaders’ across every area of our business to help lead changes and deliver against our ambitious targets.
