Destiny Bay Vineyards becomes Waiheke Island’s first vineyard & winery to be certified “Fully Sustainable” by Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand. Read the full press release below or a download a PDF copy here.

Destiny Bay Vineyards becomes Waiheke’s first Sustainable Winery & Vineyard
Artisan producer Destiny Bay Vineyards leads the charge as the first winery and vineyard operation on Waiheke to become fully Sustainable from “Grape to Glass”

WAIHEKE ISLAND, New Zealand, October 14, 2009 – Sustainable Winegrowing NZ® this week has issued the first certification for a Sustainable Winery operation on Waiheke Island to Destiny Bay Vineyards. Known as a producer of distinctive, premium branded cabernet blend wines, Destiny Bay achieved Sustainable certification for their vineyard operations in 2005, but has spent the last year monitoring and recording winery operations relating to recycling, energy efficiency, and environmental management. Mark Boyle, Destiny Bay’s Sustainable Winegrowing Compliance Manager said, “Sustainability is an important part of the way we operate at Destiny Bay. It’s not just good for the environment, but it’s also good grapegrowing and winemaking practice. We’ve significantly reduced our energy costs by improving the insulation in our barrel aging facility. By using ‘green’ technologies like ozonated water, the use of common sanitizing agents like caustic soda has been completely eliminated from our winemaking procedures.” Among other practices, Destiny Bay recycles all of their packaging materials, returns pressed grapes to the vineyard, mulches all of their prunings, and carries out pH testing of the soil across the site.
“While there are other wineries in New Zealand that have received Sustainable certification, most of them are more than ten times the size of our business. For small vintners with limited resources the certification process can be time consuming and expensive, but we feel it was a worthy investment,” said Destiny Bay Wines Owner & Winemaker, Sean Spratt. “It is the land and the terroir at Destiny Bay that allows us to produce distinctive wines sought by collectors around the world. The vineyard is our most important asset and it makes sense that we act as good stewards of the land.”

About Destiny Bay Vineyards, Ltd.
Destiny Bay Vineyards is located in a small, north facing valley on the renowned ‘cracking clays’ of Waiheke Island, New Zealand. Established in 2000, Destiny Bay grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot from vines sourced from premium wine districts around the world. Destiny Bay wines are found on the wine lists of fine restaurants in San Francisco, Chicago, and Auckland and in the private cellars of discriminating collectors. Destiny Bay is a fully accredited Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand® vineyard and winery. For more information about Destiny Bay Vineyards, visit our Web site at https://www.destinybaywine.com.

About Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand
New Zealand has long been famed for its stunning and unspoiled landscape. New Zealand’s small population, isolated location and agricultural economy have earned the country a clean, green image. New Zealand grape growers and winemakers aim to keep it that way by protecting the environmental integrity of their wine production. To this end a pioneering set of industry standards have been developed, known as Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ). Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand provides the framework for companies to continually work towards improving all aspects of their performance in terms of environmental, social and economic
sustainability in both the vineyard and the winery. For more information, visit http://www.nzwine.com/swnz/.

Trademarks
Destiny Bay Vineyards, the Comet, Magna Praemia, Mystae and Destinae are registered trademark of Destiny Bay Vineyards Ltd. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.