A Unique Coalition: The Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWR) is the only global, independent, non-profit, multistakeholder roundtable built to include everyone in the wine sector.
Bringing Clarity through Consensus: Working together, SWR members will define sustainable wine in practical detail, while respecting and reflecting local conditions and contexts.
Setting the Standard: Drawing on input from the membership, the SWR will develop a global wine sustainability standard.
The SWR will enable the wine community to take its place as a leader on the world sustainability stage through clarity, collaboration and consensus.
What will the SWR do?
- Lead the development of global sustainability standards and the sharing of best practices
- Enable collaboration among regional, industry and company certification schemes
- Be an advocacy organisation promoting incentives that reward sustainable practices
- Host technical working groups on critical issues
- Enable information sharing through discussion and networking
- Research into current and emerging areas of sustainability for ongoing relevance
How we are organised
Founding Members
A Founding Team of passionate volunteers from different walks of the wine industry have been working together to lay the groundwork of the Roundtable.
This Founding Team have been joined by more than 50 Pioneering Founding Members, with a significant organisational commitment to sustainability. They have committed to shape the structure of the next phase and beyond through their time, expertise and finance. They represent a true cross section of the global wine industry by sector and geography.
General Members
General membership of the SWR will soon be open for all stakeholders from the wine trade. Members will be encouraged to participate in working groups, forums, research and the development of the global sustainability standard.
The opportunity to join the SWR will be made available on January 10th 2022.
Advisors and Ambassadors
We are delighted to partner with key individuals and representatives of non-profit organisations who bring deep knowledge in critical and emerging areas. These expert advisors are invited to participate and are led by Richard Bampfield MW, one of the originators of the SWR.
Advisors and Ambassadors include:
Ignacio Gavilan, Director of Sustainability, The Consumer Goods Forum
Caroline Hermann MW
Etelle Higonnet, Senior Advisor, National Wildlife Federation
Linda Johnson-Bell, CEO, The Wine and Climate Change Institute
Dr. Greg Jones, CEO and Climatologist, Abacela Winery
Dr. Simon Lord, Independent Sustainability Advisor
Sandra Taylor, Founder and President, Sustainable Business International
Secretariat
The SWR Secretariat underpins the day-to-day running of the SWR. They are:
Toby Webb – Executive Director
Chris Wille – Sustainability Advisor
Tom Owtram – Outreach and Development Manager
The first year
Governance
We have an interim governance model to get started and to enable shaping a permanent model which will be presented to members for their consideration at the first Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Q2 2022.
In the meantime, representatives from the Founding Members are engaged in helping set the direction of the roundtable while launching and participating in working groups.
Key areas of action
Priorities until the first AGM in 2022 are:
– Mapping and benchmarking existing sustainability standards
– Kicking off Working Groups to start the deep dive on priority topics
– Launching general membership
– Confirming the ongoing governance model
These areas of action are supported by the SWR Secretariat, the Advisors and Ambassadors and from the ongoing support of Founding Members.