Wine
Drinking responsibly takes on a whole new meaning when you consider the environmental impact of wines, beers, and spirits.
The alcohol industry has done a good job of handling product packaging—standard beer bottles can be reused 12 to 15 times. The Beer Store will take back any type of wine, spirit, beer, or cooler packaging. In 2008, the Store recovered over 2.1 billion containers, and typically has a bottle recovery rate of over 95 per cent. If you don’t want to take your bottles back, purchase alcohol in clear glass bottles, since it’s easier to recycle than coloured glass.
Buying boxed wine only reduces your footprint if you recycle the container: TetraPaks are lighter, requiring less fuel to ship, but Ecoholic’s Adria Vasil reports that only 14 per cent of these cartons were recycled in 2006 in Ontario. Another way to reduce your impact is to buy your “cold ones” warm, since product refrigeration can be one of the biggest contributors to a beer’s carbon footprint.
Organic alcohols are becoming more popular. Organic refers to the method of growing the ingredients within the alcohol—without the use of pesticides. Organic wines, beers, and spirits contain no added preservatives, which can mean less severe hangovers the morning after. However, that doesn’t mean that organic wines don’t contain sulfites, which occur naturally in all wines (more in dessert and white wines). Some eco-friendly wines contain organically-grown grapes, but are not wholly organic since they do contain added preservatives. A sulfite-free wine would quickly turn to vinegar.
Another environmentally friendly production method is biodynamic winemaking, which promotes biodiversity and biological activity in the soil. All wines labelled as biodynamic must meet the Demeter Association’s standards. Critics of biodynamic agriculture say that farming organically produces virtually the same quality as practicing biodynamics.
Vinecol
Jul 2010
This Argentinean wine contains both sulfites and organically-grown grapes. The vineyard has received organic certification from Letis SA and the USDA, but does not appear to go above and beyond with its environmental management practices. Torrontes 2009 This product is available at: LCBO Vintages
C.J. Pask
Jul 2010
C.J. Pask Winery in New Zealand is one of four wineries to achieve a world first ISO:14001 group accreditation. The winery also employs several environmental management practices, including composting, mulching, waste minimization, and fuel minimization. All winemaking, bottling, labelling, and tasting are done on-site to minimize transportation costs. While this wine is not organic, the More >
Snoqualmie
Jul 2010
Snoqualmie practices water conservation, uses biodegradable natural pest control agents, and plants cover crops to reduce soil erosion. The grapes in this wine are certified organic by the USDA, though it does contain sulfur dioxide. The vineyard, located in Washington State, U.S., is also a certified organic winemaking facility. Naked Chardonnay 2008 Tasting Notes: The More >
Marc Kreydenweiss Barbabelle
Jul 2010
This French vineyard has been producing biodynamic wine since 1990. According to them, farming in this manner not only enhances the health of the soil and disease-resistance of the vines, but also the terroir character of each wine becomes increasingly defined. Note that biodynamic wines are not necessarily organic; this wine does not bear any More >
Pinord Natura Cabernet/Merlot 2007
Jul 2010
This wine is in Pinord Natura’s organic line, and its Quality Assurance Laboratory has determined that this wine contains 6 mg/L of free sulfur. The grapes are grown organically in Spain but the vinter does not appear to go above and beyond with its environmental management practices. Like most wines on this list, it is More >
Santa Julia
Jul 2010
The grapes of this Mendoza, Argentina wine are grown organically, but there are still traces of sulfites. According to the producer, the vineyards are planted on land which was originally desert “but has come to life thanks to pure Andean mountain water.” It is likely, then, that the vineyard is an unusually high consumer of More >
