Delicious sustainable wines
Curated by Collectivino
We specialise in finding and curating exquisite ethical wines.
All the vineyards in our collective use sustainable farming practices, many of our featured wines are organic and naturally low in sulphites, and we ensure that our bottles are delivered to you with net zero carbon impact through the entire supply chain. Better for you, better for the planet.
Click here to find out more about our founders and their mission to make exquisite sustainable wines mainstream and learn more about our approach to sustainability below.
VINEYARDS AND WINEMAKERS
We assess our vineyards and rate them based on three tiers.
Tier 1: Up and Coming (1*)
Becoming truly sustainable is a journey which can take many years; so this tier is for our vineyards who have great ethos and who are practicing organic or regenerative viticulture in many respects, but aren't yet certified, or occasionally have to use some interventions that mean they'll not be able to get certified. This tier is all about accountability and intent, and rewarding those who are doing more than the majority to drive positive change. These vineyards are a mix of those with good practices and those who are well on the path from industrial viticulture to low-intervention wine.
Tier 2: Moving on Up (2*)
Usually these winemakers will have a respected organic certification or similar, and show the ethos behind this as well in their principles and practice. Tier two vineyards have a strong and well-structured approach to sustainability.
Tier 3: Pioneer (3*)
To get into our top tier, these producers have thought holistically about their vineyard within its wider landscape, about biodiversity, about the soils, ground cover and nature-based solutions across their entire vineyard and beyond. They may well be using other approaches such as biodynamics, or be going nature positive and regenerative, and will be thinking about their community as well. True pioneers in every sense of the word.
OUR LOGISTICS
We're working with our supply chain to achieve minimal footprint logistics. This begins with efficiency, but we want to move it to as low carbon as possible. This starts in our distribution to customers - where we use carbon neutral delivery (from bicycle couriers in central London to national couriers using electric vehicles, and carbon offsetting everything else). In the logistics from winery to our warehouse in London, we favour short haulage distances by truck, and sea wherever possible for longer distances. We track how everything is moved and then offset this with Gold Standard offsets to negate the carbon emissions that we can't avoid.
OUR PACKAGING
Perhaps one of the trickiest areas of wine is the bottle and the packaging that goes with it. Whilst we are working with our own packaging to make it as sustainable as possible - for example we ship your wine to you in recycled and recyclable boxes and use paper (rather than plastic) tape to seal them - we're also working with our wineries to minimise plastics, and to investigate reuse of bottles. Our next step is to look at bulk and other innovations. Watch this space!
OUR PRICING
Our core ethos is to encourage more sustainable wine production, and enable small holder, artisanal and ethical vineyards and wineries to make a decent living from producing amazing wines in the right ways. We pay a fair price for the gift of their approach and their conscientious skills. So we'll never be forcing prices low or squeezing suppliers in the way some others do (we won't name names...).
FROM CARBON NEUTRAL TO CLIMATE POSITIVE
All of the above helps us ensure your wine is sustainable from grape to glass.
One key aspect of sustainability is our approach to climate change. For us, it's important to be not just carbon neutral but climate positive. So we are creating the Collectivino Reforestation Programme.
We're currently looking for the right space to begin our first project, including visiting a number of sustainable vineyards in France throughout 2021 as potential locations for some biodiversity-sensitive reforestation projects. In the meantime, we're investing in carbon offsetting and tree planting projects with Verified Carbon Standard Tree Buddying scheme in the UK.
Want to help us go further? Become a sponsor of the programme.
