Which recent ESG initiative or improvement at Australian Vintage are you most proud of?
The roll-out [in April] of our new 300g lightweight burgundy bottle across the McGuigan Wines range (above). Following the successful introduction of a lightweight bordeaux bottle last year, this innovation will be used across approximately 3.5m bottles annually and is expected to reduce CO₂ emissions from glass production by around 82,000kg each year.
As glass packaging represents a significant component of wine’s carbon footprint, this initiative demonstrates how practical innovation can deliver measurable environmental benefits without compromising quality, while supporting our commitment to reduce emissions and drive more sustainable outcomes across the industry.
What do you believe is the biggest ESG challenge facing the drinks industry today?
The industry’s most significant ESG challenge is adapting to climate change while reducing its own environmental footprint. For wine specifically, this requires balancing vineyard resilience, water security, sustainable packaging and emissions reduction with the need to maintain product quality, profitability and long-term industry competitiveness.
What advice would you give to companies looking to strengthen their ESG performance?
Identify the ESG issues that matter most to your business and stakeholders, set measurable goals, quantify them and embed them into your strategy and operations. Don’t treat ESG as a separate exercise – ESG delivers the greatest value when it becomes part of how the business is run, not just how it reports.
Australian Vintage won in two categories in Global Drinks Intel’s ESG Awards two years ago – the Sustainable Wine Producer of the Year and Diversity/Gender Inclusion Achievement of the Year. How did winning these awards influence your approach?
We saw these as valuable endorsements of the progress we’ve made within the ESG space. They strengthened our focus on embedding ESG into business strategy, setting measurable goals and ensuring we continue to drive meaningful outcomes across our vineyards, operations, supply chain and communities as we strive to create a net-positive impact.
