Queenstown Wine Tours of Central Otago - Appellation Central


We are commited to having minimal social and environmental impact whilst still providing the utmost wine experience for our clients.

       Environmental & Social Policy Introduction


Thank you for taking the time to come to this, one of the most important sections of our website – our responsibility pages.  For you to get an understanding of us and our goals, you need to understand our company and where we have come from.

Firstly, our vision, when forming Central Otago Wine Tours in 1999 was the following:

“Company Mission Statement - To be the premier wine tour operator in the Central Otago region, sharing our passion for wine and leaving our clients with a richer insight into wine tasting and the wine region.”

In 2005 when we rebranded from Central Otago Wine Tours to “Appellation Central Wine Tours” our new buyline was: 

TASTE • SMELL • HEAR • SEE • FEEL • CENTRAL OTAGO

At the time of working through the rebranding we realized that what our visitors were most enjoying, was the chance to slow down, go to a place far from the maddening crowds and to in fact taste, smell, hear, see and feel the wine region.  That was very easy to do, almost 10 years ago when we started, the region was small, and we literally had 5 cellar doors to choose from to take our clients.  Now we have around 30 cellar doors to choose from!!  Such is the phenomenal growth of this wine region.

Our challenges are therefore to keep to our mission statement as our business grows, to still allow our visitors taste, smell, hear, see and feel Central Otago and to tread carefully on the planet as we go… Treading carefully is easy when the number of feet are small, but becomes more and more challenging as the number of feet (and vehicles!) get larger.

We would like to commit to you our current plans and future strategies to ensure our impact on the planet is minimal.

       Our Vision


For our business to have minimal social and environmental impact whilst still providing the utmost wine experience for our clients.  

For us to measure and monitor our environmental inputs and outputs on a yearly basis and to work at every part of the business to minimize these.

       Our Environmental Responsibility


We are a small business, with minimal use of resources and waste produced.  However, it is our responsibility to know exactly our impact on our environment, so any implemented changes can be monitored and determined whether they are a success or not.  Of course the major environmental impact is the use of our vehicles as a means of transport, an area which we will spend the majority of our efforts working on reducing the fuel useage.

       Our Social Responsibility

We have an enormous passion for Queenstown, the Central Otago region and the wines grown within.  We love to share this passion with others. 

In the old days we were touring the vineyards with very small groups of 2 – 6 people.  As the business has grown, so too have the groups, and we now often find ourselves often touring with our maximum group size of 11 people.  At the same time, we like to take people to vineyards that are small, in order to give them a true Central Otago experience.  We therefore ensure, when our groups are close to their maximum size, that they do not impact the cellar door operation, with our guides being adept at presenting the wines, sometimes moving our group away from the main operation, and definitely providing minimal impact on the cellar door operation.

       Our Current Environmental Initiatives

  • Vehicles are currently serviced at manufacturers recommended intervals to reduce fuel usage
  • All cleaning detergents used are biodegradeable
  • The majority of the vineyards visited are Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand Accredited Vineyards – for more information see http://www.nzwine.com/swnz
  • Our key restaurants use local ingredients when possible, produce as much of their food onsite, and recycle food, glass and paper waste.
  • All paper used in the office is made from 100% recycled paper
  • All brochures are made from 100% recycled paper
  • Our printer is defaulted to double sided printing, with a draft level of printing
  • All paper that comes into the office single side printed is reused
  • Any waste paper is recycled locally
  • All equipment is turned off at the end of the day to reduce power useage
  • All lights in the office are energy saver lights and are switched off when the office is not in use
  • We only use refillable ink cartridges and have them filled locally
  • We only use rechargeable batteries
  • All paper, cardboard, hard plastic, compostable food produced in our business is recycled
  • Achieved Qualmark Enviro-Silver status

       Qualmark Enviro Silver Award

We are thrilled to announce that Appellation Central Wine Tours has been awarded Qualmark Enviro-Silver Status.

Qualmark is New Zealand 's official mark of quality for tourism and the Qualmark Enviro logos have been developed to recognize those tourism businesses that are actively participating in the following:

  • Energy efficiency
  • Waste management
  • Water conservation
  • Conservation initiatives
  • Community initiatives

Our initiatives shown above are not new to us here at Appellation Central, this is how we have always managed the company, however the difference now is that we monitor our environmental inputs and outputs in order to monitor the effect of any new initiatives.

We are very proud of this and will continue to monitor, manage and minimize the environmental and social impacts of our business.

 

Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand - Zoom to see Central Otago

"Tourism in New Zealand relies upon us maintaining the pristine environment, stunning scenery and indigenous culture that sets New Zealand apart. We attract visitors from all corners of the globe and we need to provide quality and sustainable travel experiences."

Green Globe New Zealand