Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand

Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand™ is widely recognised as the world-leading sustainability programme and was one of the first to be established in the international wine industry in 1995.

SWNZ launched in 1995, as a programme based on continuous improvement and alignment with standards and benchmarks that ensure members meet best practice guidelines for sustainability.

The programme was first adopted by grape growers across New Zealand, followed by wineries, with the establishment of sustainable winery certification standards in 2002. SWNZ now certifies all parts of the production chain including New Zealand-based vineyards, wineries, bottling facilities and brands. 

Today, 98% of New Zealand’s vineyard producing area is SWNZ certified. Over 90% of the wine produced in New Zealand is processed in SWNZ certified facilities. This level of industry-wide participation in a sustainability scheme is a massive point of difference for wine produced in New Zealand. 

The certification process

To be SWNZ certified, all members must complete annual submissions and undergo regular full-site audits conducted by an independent, third-party verification company. Annual data is submitted through an online questionnaire covering off impacts across the industry's six focus areas, which are Soil, Water, Plant Protection, Waste, People and Climate Change.

Vineyard members must also submit a full spray diary annually, which documents all agrichemical applications made to the vineyard that season. Spray diaries are processed for compliance to ensure that only approved products have been used and specific rules of use have been adhered to.

If any data submitted shows that a vineyard or winery practice does not comply with a programme requirement, a corrective action is raised and the business has a window of time in which to remedy the issue. SWNZ certification for the subsequent year is not granted until the corrective action is verified as being complete and the relevant programme requirement met. 

Wine made from grapes grown in 100% SWNZ-certified vineyards and produced in 100% SWNZ-certified winemaking facilities can display the SWNZ logo on the bottle. This is your guarantee of sustainable production from grape to glass.

Register with SWNZ

To register your vineyard or winery with the SWNZ programme, please complete the relevant application form below and return to membership@swnz.org.nz.

Please note that for vineyards, SWNZ membership is based on an individual vineyard. To be considered a single vineyard for SWNZ purposes, the blocks must be contiguous (share a common boundary) and be owned by the same company. If you would like to merge 2+ vineyards for SWNZ purposes, these conditions must be met.

Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand provides members with:

• the confidence of operating within a robust sustainability framework, allowing wine companies to make strong sustainability claims in their markets
• the integrity of the SWNZ branding to connect with a growing number of sustainability-conscious customers all over the world
• market access for growers to sell their grapes to wine companies that are SWNZ-certified and use the SWNZ logo
• empirical evidence to demonstrate sustainability credentials of grape growing and winemaking practices to local councils and central government (potentially minimising the costs of environmental regulation)
• benchmarking reports that highlight areas for improvement, enabling members to make decisions to maximise resource efficiency and enhance economic sustainability
• feedback and guidance enabling members to continuously improve and fine-tune their operational systems and processes
• access to information resources and events to enable members to stay up-to-date with the latest best practice methods.

If you have any questions about joining Sustainable Winegrowing NZ please contact membership@swnz.org.nz

Monitor, measure, reduce... repeat.

To meet the NZ Winegrowers sustainability policy, sustainable certification must be awarded through an independently audited programme, either by Sustainable Winegrowing NZ™ or a recognised organic or biodynamic certification. Other recognised certification programmes include AsureQuality, BioGro-NZ, Demeter, ISO 140001. Wines that are 100% certified sustainable through one or more of these programmes are eligible for entry into NZW events.