BRIT Salutes Five 2013 International Award of Excellence in Sustainable Winegrowing Winners
Fort Worth, TX (PRWEB) October 01, 2013 -- The Botanical Research Institute of Texas is pleased to announce that five wineries from around the world have received medals in BRIT’s 2013 international sustainable winegrowing competition based on their environmental programs. For the first time since the award’s inception in 2010, judging of the wineries’ submissions was so close it prompted the necessity to pay recognition to more than just one winery.
When submitting for the competition, wineries are asked to provide an assessment of their organization's accomplishments in sustainable winegrowing, winemaking, and ecopreneural/social responsibility practices. They must describe their organization's conservation efforts in the field and in operations, how waste is avoided, how it is reclaimed, and how the winery extends conservation efforts to its customers. They also are required to submit a bottle of wine for a tasting by the judging committee.
BRIT’s 2013 international sustainable winegrowing awardees are:
• Overall winner and Platinum medal, Yalumba (Australia), submitted wine: Shiraz Voignier 2010;
• Gold medal: L’Olivera Winery (Spain), submitted wine: Agaliu 2011;
• Silver medal, three-way tie: Vignerons de Caractère (France), submitted wine: Vacqueyras Seigneur de Fontimple 2010;
• Jackson Family Wines (USA) submitted wine: Stonestreet Vineyard, Bear Point Cabernet Sauvignon 2009;
• Les Vignerons de Buzet (France), submitted wine: Chateau de Gueyze 2009.
“Unique in personality and organization, each awardee pursues a sustainability program tailored specifically for its locale,” said Dr. Will McClatchey, BRIT’s Vice President of Research. “All applicants’ sustainable winegrowing programs produce a quality product that generates revenue for continued operations and improvement and provides resources to better its employees, the local community, and the industry.”
Competition for BRIT’s 2013 international award began March 31, when wineries from around the world submitted applications documenting their sustainable programs relating to environmental, economic, and social aspects of grape growing, and wine production along with their wine samples.
Because the BRIT award is the only international award of its kind, it is of primary interest to wineries who care deeply about the environment and are taking a leading role in their community/region/country by implementing sustainable practices. Sustainable winegrowing programs are, by nature, ongoing so a key part of each program is its continual improvement process.
BRIT’s interest as a non-profit, international plant research and knowledge sharing organization is based on our two-fold mission of conservation and education. Our goal is to positively promote sustainability in ways that can change perspectives of the public, businesses, and policy- and decision-makers and create an environment in which sustainability is seen as being good for us all.
In the fourth year of the BRIT International Award of Excellence in Sustainable Winegrowing, Yalumba is the first, non-U.S. winery to win. Presentation of the award will be made at BRIT’s seventh annual Fête du Vin Wine Dinner and Auction on Saturday, October 5, 2013, at the Fort Worth Club in downtown Fort Worth, Texas.
About the Botanical Research Institute of Texas
Founded in 1987, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) based in Fort Worth, Texas, is an international, scientific research and learning center focused on conservation, knowledge sharing, and studying the diversity of plant life. BRIT conducts extensive global research, including major projects in Texas, Europe, Peru, and the Pacific Islands. In the last 10 years, BRIT scientists have located and described scores of species previously unknown to science. BRIT's herbarium is among the largest in the United States and is the largest U.S. herbarium not part of a university, botanical garden, or broader natural history museum. In the spring of 2011, BRIT moved into its new, U.S. Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum-certified headquarters located in the Fort Worth Cultural District. BRIT is open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit http://www.brit.org.
Chris Chilton, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, http://www.brit.org, +1 (817) 546-8691, [email protected]
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