SUSTAINABILITY
"From recycling our vine prunings to be used for heat production, use in schools for artwork and Forest Schools to low carbon bottles our wine has been bottled into."
SUSTAINABILITY
​​Sustainability is at the heart of the wine production for Veenow's vineyard and has always been the mission to protect the world from the outset. ​
Over a third of the planted area is dedicated to wildlife and sustainabilty by utilising cover crops containing phacalia, sainfoin, clovers, vetches, radish and buckwheat.
This provides
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Improved soil structure
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Fixes nitrogen into the soil
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Provides vital food for bees, butterflies, insects and birds
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Carbon sequestration​
Hedgerow and tree management is also taken seriously and this is shown by the diverse wildlife seen in and around the vineyard.​ By utilising specialist machinery in the vineyard when growing the grapes, the disease risk can be reduced by managing the weeds in amongst the vines to deleafing around the grapes to increase fresh airflow.
"We are thinking of everything we do, start, middle and end of the process to ensure our aim of producing carbon sequestration wines is reached."
ENVIRONMENT
Protecting the environment is a key objective to growing our sustainable wines. This comes from a multifaceted view when growing the grapes to producing our wines.
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As Veenow only produces wine from our own vineyard we can ensure complete control and protection to the environment and to our wine.
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Every vineyard block has been planted and is managed sympathetically to the local and wider environment from planting trees, planting cover crops, managing water and more...
"Looking after our wildlife on our vineyard, such as bees and insects, is crucial to our philosophy."
LAND, WATER, AIR
Protecting our land, water and air is not only key for growing high quality grapes but also protects our terroir for the future.
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It has always been the objective that Veenow's wine is not grown in monoculture blocks of vines. Instead, from the outset the entire vineyard has been planted by using every other alleyway to grow cover crops so enhancing the soil, providing food for insects, birds, butterflies and bees, while increasing carbon intake and fixing nitrogen. By doing this 34% of our planted area is dedicated to the environment.
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Veenow is fortunate to be bordered by 2.7km of river which not only reflects light for the vines but pulls the cold air away from the vineyard. Large buffer margins between the vineyard and river provide a wildlife sanctuary while protecting the water quality from nutrient runoff.
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Managing airflow through the vineyard is also important to Veenow to reduce disease risk. This is why Veenow has planted and still planting hedges as a natural, wildlife friendly method managing airflow.
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