Australian Wine Company - Yalumba, Wins Prestigious US Environment Award

Friday, 11 May 2007 - partially sourced from the Barossa Herald, SA.

After a decade of environmental leadership, Yalumba, Australia's oldest family-owned wine company, has been honoured by the US Environmental Protection Agency with a 2007 Climate Protection Award.

This annual award, presented in Washington last week, recognises companies and individuals from around the world who have demonstrated "exceptional leadership, outstanding innovation, personal dedication, and technical achievements in protecting the environment".

Yalumba is the first wine company to receive this award.

Robert Hill Smith, fifth generation proprietor of Yalumba, said: "After 158 years of family winemaking our family not only wish to leave a legacy of great wine, but to also pass on our natural assets to future generations in better condition than when we inherited them."

This is not the first time Yalumba has been recognised for developing and practicing their Environmental Management Program. In 2005 Yalumba was the first Australian company to be recognised as 'leader' in greenhouse management by the Australian Greenhouse Office, and later that year they were awarded the ‘Environmental and Energy Management Award' at the Rabobank agribusiness awards for Excellence.

Since 1999 the AGO has guided Yalumba in taking small, steady steps to integrate best eco-friendly practice into everyday activities, an enormous undertaking which involves every aspect of winemaking - viticulture, production, packaging and market distribution.

This award is a great recognition of how well the Australian viticulture and wine industry is doing, leading the world in establishing outstanding credentials in environmental performance in both the production agriculture section and the actual winemaking. Yalumba is but one of many Australian wineries and growers that have embraced the environment movement in their whole production system.

And remember that compost use and similar activities are now very widespread and a fundemental aspect of the modern Australian production system, with pioneer scientists including John Buckerfield [ now deceased] a key person driving use of such products and practices, particularly around the South Australian region, where Yalumba are based.