ENVIRONMENT

DE BORTOLI ENVIRONMENT INITIATIVES SUMMARY

In recent times we have changed our thinking and approach to growing grapes and making wine. This change has been made for both philosophical and pragmatic reasons but is driven by our desire to leave a sustainable legacy for future generations; an idea that has resonance for any family-owned company.We are conscious of the need to operate all aspects of our business in a manner that is respectful of the environment and are confident that this attitude will help us to make better wine from healthy vines and soils for generations to come.With numerous operational sites around Australia and increased production and expansion into the export markets, we are ever looking at reductions in water consumption, electricity, packaging materials and general waste.We have signed on to nationwide covenants aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, packaging and chemical use. We have assisted in establishing programs that aim to offset carbon emissions in the wine industry, and are participating in schemes such as the planting of native trees to help reduce salinity and combat rising water tables.

Water Management

A new low-energy wastewater treatment facility at our Bilbul, NSW winery has been commissioned to allow us to irrigate fodder crops and decrease our carbon footprint. We currently save $200,000 a year in electricity alone with this system.An aerobic biological water treatment plant in the Yarra Valley allows us to recycle all of our wastewater streams from winery, restaurant and tourism facility for irrigation purposes.Composting and mulching of many of our vineyards have reduced water requirements by as much as 50%. Similarly the use of film technology (spreading a layer of hydrated lime over the surface of the dams) on the evaporation of water from our 'on farm' storage is also making water savings of near 30%.Elimination of all sodium based cleaning products means that all winery wastewater is plant useable and with the added benefit that we don’t contribute to Australia’s troubling salinity issues.

Biological / Organic Farming Practices

The De Bortoli family cultivates over 700 Ha of vineyards in Victoria and NSW and purchases fruit from over 300 grape growers Australia wide. Viticultural practices throughout all of our grower base is subject to a strict program that ensures practices and sprays are recorded and submitted to us for audit and compliance.In our own vineyards we are moving toward a more biological approach to viticulture which will lead to certain estate grown vineyards being certified organic. Programs are in place in our Yarra Valley and Hunter Valley vineyards that will transition these sites entirely to organic over a 5 year program. Certain vineyards in both the Riverina and King Valley will be converted over the same time frame. It is certainly important that we lead the way for our grower base in the early stages of these changes. There is an increasing move toward Biological Farming which incorporates more of the measuring of the microbial activity of beneficial organisms in both the soil and the vine canopy

Packaging

As a signatory to the National Packaging Covenant, De Bortoli is committed to reducing the environmental impacts of packaging by 65% over the next 3 years. Wine boxes with no dividers and lighter weight bottles are just some of the initiatives being trialled. Recycling of packaging materials coming into the wineries is also being encouraged and implemented.

Carbon Footprint and Offset InitiativesLow energy waste-water treatment facilities have reduced energy consumption by over 90%. We are now a signatory to Australia’s Greenhouse Challenge Plus initiative. The company has started its own ’17 Trees’ program -17 trees are planted for each company vehicle in use. We are also founding members of ‘Food For Trees’, an initiative where leading Melbourne restaurants commit to tree planting in and around Melbourne to both offset emissions as well as to provide habitats for endangered indigenous fauna.
Waste ManagementThe ultimate aim is to be a Zero Waste Wine Company. This involves management of waste streams – water, grape marc, paper, cardboard etc – so they become useful to other parts of the business (irrigation, compost etc).

Education, Research & Development

De Bortoli is a major participant of the wine industry environment policy that looks at waste management and recycling. Our company conducts seminars on environmental legislation and has created a course to improve the environmental awareness for employees.There are plenty of pragmatic reasons to move to a more sustainable way of making wine – regulation and the cost saving from improved efficiency among them – but the De Bortoli environmental initiatives also stem from a desire to safeguard a future where good wine and a healthy environment can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Food and Wine Pairing

Food and Wine Pairing

As a chef, the importance of my food is how well it shows off our wine.

When food and wine are married well, both will taste better.

Why bother?
The notion of food and wine pairing throughout Europe does not exist.
Old world wine producing regions do not address the concept of “food and wine pairing”. They eat their local cuisine and drink their local wines. Their food and wine pair naturally because they grow grapes and vinify wine that compliments their food and have created a cuisine that compliments their wine. This has evolved over many generations.

With our more diverse global cuisine an understanding of how food and wine go together is necessary.
On the other hand, regions of the world that do not have a long history of wine production do not necessarily have cuisines that “naturally” pair with wine. In this country, we, as well, do not have a long multi-generational history of wine and food. Our cuisine often borrows flavors from areas like Japan, China, the Pacific Rim, and Mexico. Our wine is also produced in a multitude of styles. It is therefore necessary to have a basic understanding of the balance between food and wine to successfully pair our wine with the flavors of these cuisines.

How have we paired in the past?
Match a wine variety with a dish from the region that produces that variety.
For example, you want to pair a wine with a seafood dish. In France they might pair a seafood dish with beurre blanc (butter sauce) with chardonnay. So a chef here decides to create a seafood dish with his own butter sauce and pair it with a California chardonnay. It might work, it might not. And if it does work, he won’t necessarily know why. One reason it might not work is that the chardonnay he chooses might not be Burgundian in style. In California we produce chardonnays that are high acid, fruit forward, stainless steel fermented, and with no malo-lactic. We also make chardonnays that are barrel fermented or aged and 100% malo-lactic. And we have everything in between – partial barrel aged, partial malo-lactic. Depending on the style of chardonnay the chef chooses, it may or may not pair well with his dish.

Mirror flavors.
The wine is “herby” so you pair the wine with a dish that is heavy on herbs. The wine is “toasty” and “oaky” so you prepare the dish using the grill. The zinfandel has berry and black pepper flavors so you add berries and black pepper to the dish. Again, mirroring flavors may work, but it may not. And if it does, you might not know why. So how do we pair food and wine?

It's all about "Taste Balance"
The dominant taste of anything you eat or drink will have an effect on anything that follows.
The important thing to remember is that everything you put in your mouth changes the taste of the next thing you put in your mouth. For example, what happens when you drink orange juice after you brush your teeth? The OJ tastes pretty bad! What’s happening? The dominant taste of sweet in the toothpaste emphasizes the dominant taste of acidity (sourness) in the OJ. It makes the OJ taste very sour.

As in good cooking, a successful food and wine pairing comes from knowing the interaction of tastes.
Much as a cook balances “tastes” in creating a single dish, or when combining several dishes together, successful food/wine pairing involves factoring the wine into the balance.

Food changes the taste of wine.
All wines are changed by the dominant taste in food to a lesser or greater degree.
So if anything you put in your mouth changes the taste of the next thing you put in your mouth, then it is safe to say that food changes the taste of wine and that all wines are changed by the dominant taste in food to a lesser or greater degree.

A good food and wine pairing involves minimizing that change.
Or, if there is a change, making it a positive one (sometimes we want to affect a change in the wine to emphasize a good quality, say fruit, or de-emphasize a bad quality, say harsh tannins).

We want the wine to taste the way the winemaker intended it to taste.
What we most often strive for is to have the wine taste the way it is supposed to taste, the way the winemaker created it. If you’ve spent a lot of money on your favorite cabernet sauvignon, you don’t want the food to make it taste like something else!

Taste
Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, and Savory (Umami)
There are 5 and only 5 primary “tastes”. There are thousands of “flavors”. Flavor is a combination of taste and smell, and to a lesser degree touch, temperature, and sight.

Although accepted as a taste in Japan for over 100 years, umami has only recently been recognized in western culture. Food chemists have isolated what produces the taste (glutamic acid) and neuro-scientists have identified the unique reaction on the taste buds.

Umami is no more important than the other 4 tastes in pairing food with wine. It is, however, not something that we all can identify, so after our taste balance demonstration we will spend a little time talking about it.

Screw Tops are Perfect for Fine Wines

French winemakers abandon the cork

By Henry Samuel in Paris Last Updated: 1:56AM BST 08/07/2008

The familiar sound of corks popping may soon be consigned to history as French wines start dropping the traditional cork for the New World screw top, whose use is rocketing worldwide.

'We are convinced that screw tops are perfect for fine wines that need to age, as they protect them better than cork from oxidation'

While New World wines have adopted the screw top for years - with up to 90 per cent of New Zealand wines and 60 per cent of Australian bottles using them – giving up the time-honoured cork has met with much stiffer resistance in France beyond the cheaper end of the market.
But according to one wine expert, two of the world's top names - Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in Burgundy, whose bottles can sell for tens of thousands of pounds, and Bordeaux's legendary Chateau Margaux – are now looking into screw tops.
Romanée-Conti would not comment on the sensitive issue, with tops still viewed as heresy by many purists. But the director general of Chateau Margaux, Paul Pontallier, confirmed that the Bordeaux domaine was trying them out.

Zonin

Zonin ‘Best European Producer 2007-2008’

-While it is the largest producer in the Italian wine sector, it has not abandoned its family-based approach in its relations with collaborators or the market.
- Zonin’s prestige has always been firmly based on the family. That is because it is a stronghold of rural culture and because the estates are a big family dedicated to the production of premium wines.
- Zonin now possesses more than 3,705 acres of vineyards in the outstanding terroirs of Italy.
- Zonin has carried out a massive effort to update its winerie- which are now among the world’s most modern - and it has launched an ongoing training program for its personnel, beginning with the technical staff.
- This is because quality is for Zonin a mission that will permit everyone to enjoy the very best the Italian vineyards have to offer.

Gold Medal:
• Conte Bolani Friuli Venezia Giulia I.G.T. 2000 - Tenuta Ca’ Bolani, Cervignano ( UD)
• Barbera d’Asti D.O.C. 2004 - Castello del Poggio, Portacomaro d’Asti ( AT)
• Deliella Nero d’Avola I.G.T. Sicilia 2002 - Feudo Principi di Butera, Butera ( CL)
Silver Medal:
• Sauvignon Friuli Aquileia D.O.C. 2006 - Tenuta Ca’ Bolani, Cervignano del Friuli (UD)
• Chianti Classico D.O.C.G. 2003 Le Ellere - Castello d’Albola, Radda in Chianti ( SI)
• Insolia I.G.T. Sicilia 2006 – Feudo Principi di Butera, Butera ( CL )
• Chardonnay I.G.T. Sicilia 2006, Feudo Principi di Butera, Butera ( CL )
• Syrah 2005 I.G.T. Sicilia Feudo Principi di Butera, Butera ( CL )
• Riesi D.O.C. 2005 - Feudo Principi di Butera, Butera ( CL )
• Sassabruna Monteregio D.O.C. 2005 - Tenuta Rocca di Montemassi. Roccastrada (GR)
• Valpolicella D.O.C. Superiore Ripasso 2004 – Casa Vinicola Zonin , Gambellara (VI)
• Montepulciano d’Abruzzo D.O.C. 2005 - Casa Vinicola Zonin , Gambellara (VI)
• Berengario I.G.T. delle Venezie 2000 - Casa Vinicola Zonin , Gambellara (VI)

“The prize of Best Producer for 2007-2008 is a source of great satisfaction and pride for my family and for all those who have shared our philosophy, our passion for the vine, and our mission to promote the great Italian winemaking tradition and the Country’s outstanding grape varieties around the world,” concludes Cavaliere Gianni Zonin.