The good, the bad and the not-so-ugly from The Green Awards 2023
The Drinks Business Green Awards celebrate companies pioneering sustainable ways of doing business. We reveal this year’s worthy winners here and explain why they stand out.
NOW IN their 14th year, our annual Green Awards take a deep-dive into the sustainable activities of drinks companies around the world. Rather than rewarding faraway targets or lofty ambitions, our panel of judges assesses the measurable actions that brands have taken within the last 12 months to minimise their impact on the environment, which distinguishes our awards from others in the sector.
Our winners are not necessarily those who have the most money to spend on their green agenda, but instead are those who strive to make a difference to the people and world around them, with what resources are available to them.
For that reason, this year’s green champions span the gamut from a small Umbrian winery in a remote, rural location to one of Japan’s oldest sake producers, and eponymous retail outfit Waitrose.
On Tuesday 5 December, members of the trade gathered at The Ivy Club in London to nibble on arancini balls and sip Masottina Costabella Prosecco Superiore DOCG while congratulating the winners at the Green Awards 2023 ceremony.
Introducing the event, Patrick Schmitt MW, editor-in-chief of the drinks business, said: “Not only did we have more submissions than ever, but the quality of entries in 2023’s Green Awards was our highest yet, meaning that making it onto a shortlist was a major achievement.”
Calling this year’s haul of winners “inspirational beacons of environmental and ethical practice in our trade”, he went on to observe that the current buzzword in farming appears to be ‘regenerative’. “In short, it’s no longer enough to stop damaging ecosystems,” said Schmitt. “It’s now incumbent on producers to also repair them.”
Regarding carbon, our winners demonstrated the importance of not only stopping CO2 emissions, but also taking the gas out of the atmosphere and storing it in below- and above-ground matter.
This year’s awards recognise some outstanding individuals, including the head of a Spanish wine body that is on track to become the world’s first 100% organic DO – and an up-and-coming Argentinian wine group figure with a “helicopter view of sustainability”.
We would like to thank our partners: Amorim, Pol Roger Portfolio, Jackson Family Wines, VinLog and Ty Nant Welsh Mineral Water. Read on for the full list of winners.
THE AMORIM SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
Winner: Lungarotti
The judges were “completely blown away” by the scale of impact relative to the size of this small winery in Umbria, Italy, which puts community and culture at the heart of everything it does. They were impressed by the meaningful outreach programmes the winery had established within its local community, including building the town’s police station, and the judges went as far as to say that businesses like Lungarotti are “the glue left holding agricultural communities together”.
Judges were also wowed by the green viticulture that Lungarotti is carrying out in its vineyard, looking at recovery sprayers and the effect of chemical drift. One judge commented: “They are truly leaders within a region.”
Commendation: Domaine Lafage
Judges wanted to commend this winery in Perpignan, France, for using sustainable practices to highlight the plight of its region, “which won’t survive if climate change continues the way it’s going”, and for its use of biochar which one judge called an “incredibly hot topic” in global agriculture, and yet very few producers are harnessing it.
Commendation: Spier Wines
This South African producer caught the judges’ eyes for its lightweight bottles, zero waste to landfill and no fewer than five different carbon sequestration projects.
Shortlist:
Domaine Bousquet
Domaine Lafage
Glengoyne Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Lungarotti
Spier
Winner: Château Léoube
THE AMORIM BIODIVERSITY AWARD
Winner: Château Léoube
This award is all about encouraging an abundance of life within the vineyard, and winners are those who are able to show they have enhanced species richness. Our judges were impressed by the range of different approaches that this Provence winery, where 80% of its estate is left “wild and unencumbered”, is taking to encourage biodiversity, from winter crops to permaculture. They also loved the fact that Léoube was able to show maps detailing exactly where it had found new species as a result of its work, leading the judges to state that this is a company that is clearly “not just paying lip-service”, but wholeheartedly believes in biodiversity as an organisation.
Commendation: Viña Maquis
Our judges were keen to recognise this Chilean producer for its “relatively lowcost but impactful” biological corridors, and for directing watercourses through the vineyard to encourage flora and fauna. Calling it “practical and pragmatic” about biodiversity, they said they would be fascinated to see some soil analysis from the site in the future.
Shortlist:
Château Léoube González Byass Angel de Viñas Jordan Vineyard & Winery Viña Maquis
Winner: Waitrose’s Loved & Found range of wines
THE AMORIM SPECIAL AWARD
Winner: Waitrose’s Loved & Found range of wines
This award went to a a respected retailer for launching a range of wines that has done away with plastic capsules while employing an FSC-certified, carbon-sequestering cork stopper.
Deemed “a bold move” and described as being “an important step forward with a direct, demonstrable positive impact”, the Waitrose Loved & Found range of wines features a closure that boasts a negative CO2 balance of –393 grams, and no plastic in the packaging.
Winner (producer): Brooks Wine
GREEN COMPANY OF THE YEAR
Winner (non-producer): The Wine Society
In a category with so many first-rate entries, the judges were keen to recognise the different requirements of wine production, as opposed to distributing and retailing drinks. As a result, they decided to divide this award in two. In the non-producer segment, the glory goes to The Wine Society, an impressively ethical retailer that is driving change among wine producers thanks to its ambitious and widelypublicised aims.
Commendation (non-producer): Direct Wines
Also in the non-producer segment, the judges wanted to commend a mail-order wine business for having a significant green impact on its suppliers, while improving its own eco-credentials too.
Winner (producer): Brooks Wine
The Green Company accolade goes to a dry-farmed, no-till, biodynamic wine producer in Oregon’s Willamette Valley that has every eco corner covered, from its hedge and tree planting projects to bottle lightweighting programmes and B Corp-certified status.
Commendation (producer): Familia Torres
Our judges wanted to applaud an “irreproachable climate hero” that has recently embraced regenerative viticulture on a large scale.
Shortlist:
Brooks Wine
Direct Wines
Familia Torres
Kojima Sohonten
Voyager Estate
The Wine Society
Winner: Kojima Sohonten for Toko Junmai Daiginjo – Aigamorobo Farmed
BEST GREEN LAUNCH
Winner: Kojima Sohonten for Toko Junmai Daiginjo – Aigamorobo Farmed
This year’s award goes to an innovative sake that our judges loved. Made using robotic ducks, it put a smile on our faces, but also an end to polluting rice-growing methods in Japan. Kojima Sohonten brewery in the Yamagata Prefecture put the robot to work on 12 hectares of rice fields, where rotating rubber brushes on the robot’s underside oxygenated the water in the paddies by stirring it up and preventing weeds from taking root.
Commendation: Amcor for STELVIN® Greener capsules
The judges wanted to recognise a closure company for launching a new capsule containing recycled aluminium.
Commendation: Bonterra Organic Estates for the Estate Collection
The judges were impressed by a trailblazing organic wine producer for creating a striking range to draw attention to regenerative farming practices.
Shortlist:
Amcor for STELVIN® Greener capsules
Bonterra Organic Estates for the Estate Collection
Partner Content
Hautes Glaces for Organic French Whisky
Kojima Sohonten for Toko Junmai Daiginjo – Aigamorobo Farmed
Winner: Domaine Bousquet
THE ETHICAL AWARD
Winner: Domaine Bousquet
This year, one organic wine producer stood out for providing employment, education, leadership and training in a rural area in Argentina, garnering much praise from the judges for investing in people. Domaine Bousquet’s founders moved to Argentina from Carcassonne, France, to found the winery in 1990 in a spot which locals dismissed as “too high and too cold” to grow vines.
Shortlist:
Bodega Argento
Domaine Bousquet
VIK
Winner: The Wine Society
VINLOG GREEN RETAILER AWARD
Winner: The Wine Society
One retailer wowed for its ambitious, externally-approved carbon reduction targets, and a publicised 10-year roadmap to become as green as possible. Such developments involve its large and diverse network of suppliers, which are expected to conform to this retailer’s tough green goals.
Commendation: Direct Wines
The judges wanted to recognise an increasingly green retailer for its impressive eco-efforts, not just in terms of its own waste reduction achievements, but also the impact it has on suppliers.
Winner: Lanchester Wines
VINLOG GREEN IMPORTER/DISTRIBUTOR AWARD
Winner: Lanchester Wines
This is a business that has embraced renewable power sources for its energy-intensive business, using wind, solar and geothermal to run almost all its operations. The multi-million-pound investment has made this family business one of the most sustainable in the sector.
Commendation: Alliance Wines
The judges wanted to commend a distributor that is doing a remarkable amount to be green, from reducing carbon emissions to ditching plastic packaging, as well as investing in rainwater capturing and LED lighting.
Commended: Bruichladdich Distillery Company for The Classic Laddie
THE GREEN PACKAGING AWARD
Winner: Mallard Point
This year, the honour went to a pioneering English wine and spirits producer for adopting a refillable bottle made from recycled aluminium. The judges were impressed with Mallard Point’s swing-top closure and its decision to use the same lightweight, refillable bottle for wine, sparkling wine and spirits.
Commendation: Bruichladdich Distillery Company for The Classic Laddie
The judges wanted to commend a Scotch producer for creating an eco-friendly whisky package without sacrificing its brand identity.
Shortlist:
Bruichladdich Distillery Company for
The Classic Laddie
Crate
Journey’s End X Interpunkt cardboard
bottles
Mallard Point
Talisker X Parley for Wilder Seas Single
Malt Scotch Whisky
Winner: Alpamanta Estate
BEST ORGANIC INITIATIVE
Winner: Alpamanta Estate
The judges called the organic achievements of this biodynamic Argentinian winery a triumph as Alpamanta has thought about “every conceivable angle” of environmentally-sensitive wine production. In the local indigenous culture, Alpamanta means ‘Love for the Earth’, which the producer clearly proved with its vineyard practices.
Commendation: Shannon Family of Wines
Judges were full of admiration for this Californian winery for not only farming organically and regeneratively, but also for launching a sheep-grazed vineyard initiative called Project Ovis.
Shortlist:
Alpamanta Estate
Domaine Bousquet
Shannon Family of Wines
BEST LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN GREEN INITIATIVE
Winner: Kuehne+Nagel for VinLog’s Electrification Initiative
This year, one company stood out for the ongoing electrification of its vehicles, procuring 23 zero-emission trucks in the past 12 months alone alone.
Winner: Kojima Sohonten
THE RENEWABLE ENERGY IMPLEMENTATION AWARD
Winner: Kojima Sohonten
Despite being one of the oldest sake breweries in Japan, Kojima Sohonten was dubbed “a leader” by our judges in terms of its innovative approach to green energy. They applauded its creative thinking in finding a way to turn a sake by-product that Japanese breweries typically struggle to dispose of into energy to fuel its operations. They were also impressed that Kojima Sohonten had invested in an electricity sales company in order to sell the waste-to-energy conversion process it had invented to others who wish to use it. One judge summed it up by saying the Japanese sake maker had “looked at its business, looked at the challenges, and worked out how to overcome them”.
Commendation: The Lanchester Group
The judges wanted to commend this “incredibly impressive operation”, which takes heat out of old coal mines to power its warehouses and has invested more than £13 million in renewable heat and energy generation across its sites, despite being a small business.
Shortlist:
Broadland Drinks
Kojima Sohonten
The Lanchester Group
THE WATER MANAGEMENT AWARD
Winner: Broadland Drinks
This year, one wine producer stood out for its new waste-water processing system that has allowed it to ditch the carbon-intensive tankering of dirty liquids, taking almost 3,000 HGVs off the road. And Broadland is not stopping there. Its next water management measure will be co-packing and filling the paper Frugal Bottle for wines and spirits. A lifecycle assessment carried out by Intertek found it took 2.5 litres of water to make a lightweight 345g glass bottle made in the UK, but only 0.6 litres to make a Frugal Bottle.
GREEN PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR
Winner: Andrés Valero, Grupo Avinea
Our judges called Valero “a hard grafter” who had “a helicopter view of sustainability”. They felt his entry showed evidence of “a constructive and coherent suite of activities” during the last 12 months, and the judges particularly applauded his ability to forge important partnerships between different wine companies despite, they said, “collaboration not always being easy in South America”.
They were also impressed by the sheer number of green conferences and events that Valero has personally made the effort to speak at recently (upwards of 20 events in 2023 alone), which the judges felt was indicative of the number of people who want to hear what he has to say about green issues.
GREEN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Winner: Joan Huguet, president, DO Penedès
This year’s recipient is impressive for his many achievements. Among these is the production of sustainably-made and organically-certified sparkling wine in Spain. Not only is his winery the source of environmentally-friendly products – indeed, his company Can Feixes is a member of Corpinnat, which is a group for top-end, eco-minded Cava producers – but his most outstanding achievement concerns overseeing a world first.
As president of the 25,000-hectare DO Penedès, our recipient has ensured that this important Spanish wine region is on track to become the first DO in the world to go completely organic.
Having begun the move seven years ago, Penedès will become 100% organic in 2025, yielding 19 million bottles of certified wine to rigorous standards. In short, our personality has pushed through what no other DO president has yet achieved: 100% conversion to organic practices.
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