New wine seal tracks production integrity

South Africa has ‘uncorked’ another wine industry first with the world’s first sustainability seal as a guarantee of eco-friendly production. Other countries are introducing similar initiatives on a limited scale but South Africa is the only country to have the means to implement and certify the concept across the entire wine industry. Issued by the Wine and Spirit Board, each seal, intended for bottled wines only, carries a unique number through which the wine’s provenance can be tracked from vine to bottle to confirm the integrity of production. Effective from this year, the voluntary system is available to those wineries passing the accreditation of the Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) set of principles at farm, winery and bottling levels covering a whole range of issues such as integrated pest management, the health of workers and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. “Linked to the existing Wine of Origin system that already guarantees the source of the grapes, their varietal and vintage, the sustainability seal gives a further guarantee of production integrity and sustainability,” says Wosa CEO, Su Birch.