Submissions for The 2023 Gucci Golden Vines® Sustainability Award are now open until 30 April 2023. All submissions should be sent to awards@liquidicons.com.
23 JANUARY 2023 | LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM | The 2022 Gucci Golden Vines® Sustainability Award was won by Maison Louis Roederer, with The Golden Vines® Trophy being handed over to Frederic Rouzaud, Directeur General of the Maison at the Golden Vines® Awards Ceremony & Gala in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence on Sunday 16 October.
The production of great wine is integrally linked to exceptional individuals and outstanding terroir. This fundamental connection of the people and land makes wine truly unique amongst alcoholic beverages. It is through the adoption of sustainable business practises (incorporating all activities linked to improving the environment, a long term commitment to everyone within the winery community, all underpinned by a sound economic model) that gives wine an unprecedented opportunity to engage with its audience and become the consumers ‘sustainable drink of choice’.
The aim of this Award is to identify and celebrate those wineries who are taking an industry leading position in the sustainability arena. By highlighting their activities and achievements we hope to act as a focal point for connecting like-minded wineries, in order to share best practices and encourage the fine wine industry to communicate their unique sustainability stories and achievements.
We are therefore looking for fine wine producers to make a submission to the Golden Vines® Sustainability judging panel, describing their activities which should include:
- measurable improvements in the environmental impact of vineyard and winery operations, addressing issues linked to natural resource use, water and waste management, increased biodiversity, which may extend to regenerative, organic or biodynamic farming practices;
- a demonstrable commitment towards social improvement both within the workforce and the surrounding community. Within this, recognition will also be given to any initiative supporting diversity within the industry;
- a clear reduction in the carbon footprint across all aspects of the business, both within direct winery operations, but also extending to the wider supply chain; and
- new innovations and long-term investment in support of the above.
Any winery producing exceptional wine, from its own vineyards within recognised quality regions is invited to make a submission to Golden Vines®. Ideally these commitments will be part of a long-term strategy, but as an annual Award, particular focus will be given to activities within the last 12 months.
Submissions should be sent to awards@liquidicons.com
The panel of judges tasked with choosing a worthy winner of The 2023 Gucci Golden Vines® Sustainability Award are:
Adrian Garforth MW, Head Judge
Adrian has a long standing commitment to supporting sustainable practises within wineries beginning with his time at Spier in Stellenbosch, South Africa in the late ’90’s and latterly as Chief Executive Officer at Yealands Wine Group in Marlborough, New Zealand. Through their pioneering work, Yealands were the first winery outside of the founding members, Torres and Jackson Family Wines, to be invited to join the IWCA (international Wineries for Climate Action) whose growing membership has now expanded to over 20 wineries.
Most recently he championed a number of Sustainability and Diversity initiatives within the Institute of Masters of Wine in his role as Executive Director during the Covid-19 crisis and has remained closely involved with the Golden Vines® team since its inception.
Steve Matthiasson
Steve is the owner/farmer/winemaker of Matthiasson Wines, founded in 2003. He makes a number of different restrained and classically balanced wines from both common and uncommon varieties. He has been named Winemaker of the Year by both Food and Wine Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle, and been nominated six times for the James Beard Award. Steve is a co-author of the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing. He has provided consulting since 1995 to many vineyards including Araujo, Dalla Valle, Spottswoode, David Arthur, Chappellet, Two Wolves, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Accendo, Antinori, and others. Along with his wife Jill, Steve farms his own Certified Organic family vineyards and tree fruit orchards in the Napa Valley.
Steve received his BA in Philosophy from Whittier College in 1991 and his MS in Horticulture from UC Davis in 1996. He has been a member of the review committee for the American Vineyard Foundation, a Director of the Napa County Farm Bureau, a Board Member of the Applied Ecologists Foundation, the past President of the Association of Applied Integrated Pest Management Ecologists, and past Chair of the Viticulture Committee for the California Enological Research Association. He is currently the Co-Chair of the 280 Project, a pathway for BIPOC people into the wine business.
Hervé Berland
Born in Bordeaux, Hervé is a Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite. He spent a part of his youth in Western Africa. He is a graduate of the High School of Hotel and Catering in Paris. In 1977, he was hired by the Baron Philippe de Rothschild Group in Pauillac as Export Manager. He spent thirty-five years in various director position roles in the wine industry. In 2006, he was appointed by the Supervisory Board, CEO of all the Estates and Member of the Board. In 2012, he joined the Martin Bouygues’s Group as CEO of Château Montrose and Château Tronquoy Lalande, instilling a First Growth culture to the estates. From 2017, and further to the new acquisitions Clos Rougeard, Domaine Rebourseau in Gevrey Chambertin, and La Métairie in Cognac for the Bouygues’s Group, Hervé became CEO of each estate and Managing Director of SCDM Domaines, the holding company controlling all the family estates. During his 10 years at the helm of these estates, in particular Château Montrose, and conscious that they are unique treasures to preserve, Hervé initiated a Global Environmental Approach, structured around a new philosophy, strategy and objectives :
- minimize the impact of wine making activities on the natural environment
- protect the terroir, its heritage, its richnesses, for the generations to come
- revisit practices and methods to produce better and healthier vines
- anticipates the changes, consumer attitudes and be ahead of the possible evolution of the international regulations
Reducing carbon footprint of each estate and more natural practices, based on a simple statement: ‘whatever we take from nature, we must give it back to it’.
Among the important achievements realized were: new insulation of all the production facilities, self-independent production of the energy needed, clean and renewable treatment of all effluents to recycle the waters, fully organic viticulture, investment into electric engines, commitment to biodiversity in the vineyards, recycling of all green waste, decrease drastically the quantity of sulfites in the wines, recycle the CO2 coming from fermentation, return to a massale selection for the vines, and research into a new generation of robots to work in the vineyards. Under his supervision, Château Montrose became a laboratory of experiments.
In October 2022, Hervé retired from his operational responsibilities to create his own consulting company in the world of fine wine. He still continues to work for the development of the Bouygues estates but also for the largest US auction firm, Hart Davis Hart, amongst others.
About Liquid Icons
Liquid Icons is a fine wine research and content production company founded by two friends to “do stuff in wine” – the late, great Gérard Basset OBE MW MS and Lewis Chester DipWSET. We create first-class original content and research about the world’s greatest fine wines and spirits. Our work encompasses motion picture, industry research, recognition and celebration of wine and spirits excellence, charitable and fundraising activities, as well as educational initiatives.
About Gérard Basset Foundation
Set up to honour the legacy and memory of Gérard Basset OBE MS MW by addressing the wine industry’s most pressing issues through education, training & mentorship, the Gérard Basset Foundation comprises a multidisciplinary team of industry-leading professionals: Nina Basset FIH, Romané Basset, Lewis Chester DipWSET, Ian Harris MBE DipWSET, Sasha Lushnikov, Jancis Robinson OBE MW.
