Being environmentally responsible is a core objective and has long been a key driver for Sir George Fistonich: "As a family company, the desire to leave something for the next generation is an ever-present and overriding business objective."
Villa Maria Estate has a long held commitment to be environmentally responsible and to operate using sustainable practices. These values are inherent in the long term view Villa Maria takes of the wine business.
CERTIFICATES
Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ) Villa Maria has been a member of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ) since its inception in 1995. SWNZ, an initiative of New Zealand Winegrowers, provides a best practice model for vineyards and wineries involving the sustainable management of land and resources to meet the needs of today without adversely affecting the needs of tomorrow.
ISO Certification All Villa Maria wineries and company owned vineyards are certified with the environmental management system ISO14001. The overall idea of this ISO accreditation is to establish an organised approach to systematically reduce the environmental impact of Villa Maria's wine production.
BioGro Certification In 2009, Villa Maria was the first major New Zealand winery to achieve BioGro organic certification from the vineyard to the winery, bottling facility and its warehouse.
BioGro is a not-for-profit organic producer and consumer organisation, actively working to grow organics in New Zealand.
This means wine made from grapes grown at Villa Maria's organic vineyards, is bottled at its main bottling facility, enabling them to trace organic certification for their organic wines from grapes to bottle.
CEMARS Certification In 2010, Villa Maria marked another milestone in sustainability, achieving Certified Emissions Measurement and Reduction Scheme (CEMARS) certification, as part of its strategy to reduce the company's carbon footprint.
CEMARS is an internationally recognised carbon reduction programme developed in New Zealand by Landcare Research and focuses solely on measuring and managing an organisation's carbon footprint or greenhouse gas emissions profile.