About

Kaimira Ventures is a family owned wine producer based in Brightwater New Zealand. The business was established in 1996 and the first wines were released in 1999. The company started exporting in 2001 and today supplies wines to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, New Caledonia and New York and is exploring other opportunities as production increases.

Kaimira Ventures has maintained a commitment to sustainability from the planting of the first vineyard in 1996. That commitment is recognized on wine labels and in marketing and promotional material and is a key element of the Kaimira “story”. The company expects to gain Sustainable Wine Growing New Zealand (SWNZ) for its new winery opened in December 2007 later this year. This will mean all aspects of wines production from the vineyards to the winery have been independently assessed
to be sustainable.

Achieving the lowest level of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission possible through operation decisions and practices is a key element of sustainability and the company achieved carbon neutral certification under the carboNZero ^{Cert TM} programme in April 2008.

The move to recognize, manage and reduce green house gases emissions was a logical progression for Kaimira Ventures inasmuch as there are significant elements in common with SWNZ. The company also wanted to respond in a credible manner to questions about food miles and carbon footprint that were starting to be asked by UK customers so that customer loyalty could be maintained.

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Strategy

GHG Emissions Reduction Plan

Achieving carboNZero ^{Cert TM} certification involves three steps, preparing a GHG emissions inventory, implementing a management plan for reducing emissions and offsetting any unavoidable emissions by purchasing carbon credits. The process is subject to an annual independent verification audit.

Kaimira Ventures aims to achieve the lowest level of GHG emissions possible from all facets of wine production from grape growing through to delivery to distributors and/or retailers. It will do this by:

• developing a keen appreciation of the current level of emissions,
• understanding the factors that influence the level of emissions,
• identifying opportunities to reduce or contain emissions at an acceptable level,
• developing, implementing and maintaining an on-going programme to monitor, manage and where possible reduce the level of emissions.

To the extent that some level of GHG emissions remains after those actions then the company will purchase PRE wind power carbon credits as an offset.

Significant GHG Emissions Sources

The top ten emissions sources identified in the GHG inventory report account for 97.25% (60.68 tonnes) of the total assessed level of GHG emissions (62.39 tonnes) The largest contributor to the level of emissions is packaging at 42.84% of the total. Fuel, freight, energy and travel along with a pro-rated assessment of the contribution from the only third party grape supplier to the winery make up the
top sources.

Rationale for Targeting Emission Sources for Reduction Action

In the year following the inventory report the following areas have been targeted for reduction activity.

Grape production

Fuel efficiency : Baseline data will be gathered on the individual tractor/litre/hour use of diesel and on the average time to complete standard tasks such as mowing or spraying. This data will then be used to monitor such activities in the future with the view to achieving a net reduction in emission
levels through changes in work practices.

Biofuel : Expert advise will be sought on the potential to switch the current vehicles to biodiesel when a reliable source of supply is established in the region.

Spray application efficiency : The opportunity will be taken to purchase an over row sprayer allowing two rows to be sprayed at the same time. This will enable most of the current vineyards and all the new vineyard to be sprayed with twice the energy efficiency of the 3 point linkage single row
sprayer previously used.

Winemaking

The new winery incorporates a number of energy efficient features.

Thermal mass : The winery has a two metre tilt slab concrete hip wall which in combination with the concrete slab wall will assist maintain a relatively stable temperature and should reduce the demands on
the cooling system.

Solar water heating All the hot water is supplied via a 640 litre capacity boiler supported by three solar panels. In winter a powered booster unit may be used to ensure minimum temperature levels are maintained.

Energy efficient lighting : All light bulbs in offices and the winery are rated energy efficient. In addition the press pad area has inbuilt skylights to limit the need for artificial lighting during vintage.

Insulation : The walls and ceiling in the office area have thermal insulation installed to help maintain an acceptable temperature range. The barrel room is also fully insulated to provide a stable temperature environment.

Bottling, storage and distribution

The opening of the new winery offers a number of areas for emission reduction:

Finished goods storage : All finished goods will be stored on site thereby removing the emissions created by the movements to and from secondary storage.

Delivery of dry goods for bottling : The new winery is of a size that it can receive and store far more bottling stock at bottling time which will allow the freight company to use larger more load efficient trucks. This should reduce the number of delivery runs by around 20% although the impact of volume
growth might obscure this figure initially.

Packaging : The winery will initiate a review of the potential sources for lower emission impact bottles, and cartons with the objective of ultimately moving to a carboNZero or equivalently certified supplier or to a supplier that can demonstrate their products produce lower GHG emissions than the figures used in the inventory report.

Administration, sales and marketing 

During the post inventory year a Sales and Administration Officer has been appointed. Part of their responsibilities will be the coordination of SWNZ and carboNZero related management activities.

Monitoring and evaluation

In the short term the results of the initial inventory report have been used to develop a base line target. This will show relative efficiency in the management of emissions over time. However it is acknowledged that a more relevant measure would be a comparison with the efficiency of comparable size wineries as this would enable better understanding of the factors that influence the level of emissions. The winery will work with New Zealand Winegrowers and other wineries to assist develop
such measures and will also seek benchmark data from offshore.

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