Wine drinkers do their bit to help save koalas

Winesmiths - one of Australia's best quality cask wine brands - announced today that $25,000 has been raised for the Australian Koala Foundation through the sale of specially marked Winesmiths Dry Rosé and Cabernet Sauvignon packs over the summer. 

One dollar from every specially marked pack sold has been donated. 

"With a focus on sustainability and in the spirit of our ‘Sacrifice Nothing’ ethos, we wanted to prompt consumers to think about their wine choice and their impact on the environment," said Winesmiths senior brand manager Lisa Antoney.

"The Australian Koala Foundation really looks at changing the relationship people have with nature. Conservation efforts not only benefit koalas, but our population as a whole. 

"At Winesmiths, we are constantly looking for ways to reduce our impact on the environment. By packing wine into two-litre soft packs instead of glass, we save approximately 1.8 million metric tonnes of emissions each year.

"We recycle 100% of our wastewater for re-use on our vineyards, which equates to around eight Olympic pools of water saved each year."

The chair of the Australian Koala Foundation, Deborah Tabart OAM, said the money raised would go towards the newly announced Koala Kiss Project.

"The project outlines an ultimate vision of the 'Great Koala Trail': approximately 2,543 kilometres of uninterrupted conservation and prime koala habitat from Cairns to Melbourne, connected at 'kiss points'," Tabart says. 

"Kiss points are the points where intact sections of koala habitat come close to each other, but remain separated by divisions of cleared land. 

"If we achieve contiguous habitat, then all creatures great and small could traverse through the bush unthreatened.

"Humans could walk under this trail of gum trees with koalas happily in the branches overhead.

"Funding for projects is always important, but having our message spread to wine lovers around Australia will enable more people to think about the conservation of the koala and some of the bigger issues, like deforestation and water management.”

Winesmiths will unveil their next Sacrifice Nothing project later in 2022, with the objective to continue to bring awareness and much-needed funding to important sustainability causes.

See https://www.winesmiths.com.au/

Winesmiths two-litre wine casks are available in most liquor stores. RRP $16.

Have a glass or two of wine; help save endangered koalas

Prime Monster Scott Morrison and his team of environmental vandals don't give a damn about endangered koala habitats. And many of our state governments show similar disdain for our cute marsupials. 

Fortunately, the Hill-Smith family do care. 

Their Winesmiths cask brand are helping turn the spotlight onto the work done by the Australian Koala Foundation with two of their casks – Cabernet Sauvignon and Dry Rosé - featuring a limited-edition Koala ‘nozzlehead’ tap fixture.

 

One dollar from every specially marked pack sold will be donated to the Quinlans research station and environmental centre in Queensland, dedicated to researching and preserving koala habitats.

 

The 2-litre casks are now available in retail - including Dan Murphy's stores - for a short time for RRP $16.

The effort aims to both generate awareness and raise funds. 

The limited-edition packs of Winesmiths Dry Rosé and Cabernet Sauvignon are adorned with colourful caricature artwork designed by Sydney-based Mulga The Artist, and contain a reusable Koala 'Nozzlehead' tap that can be fixed to the cask.

"We are proud to partner with the Australian Koala Foundation by donating $1 from every specially marked Winesmiths Mulga Pack sold,” says Winesmiths Marketing Manager Jacinta Gibson.

"In the spirit of our ethos, 'sacrifice nothing', we are asking wine consumers to consider the impact of their purchase. Up to 80% less energy is used in the production of cask compared to glass which results in an 82% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions." 

Chair of the Australian Koala Foundation Deborah Tabart OAM says: "funding for projects is always important, but having our message spread to wine lovers will enable more people to think about the conservation of the koala and some of the bigger issues, like deforestation and water management.”

Tabart says an important part of the Foundation's work is preserving trees and forests.

“We have had the ‘No Tree No Me’ slogan since our inception and it says it all. With 85% of the world's forest already destroyed, we, the people, must ensure that we stop deforestation and of course, repair the damage. It's a big job.” 

Tabart has recently released a book titled The Koala Manifesto which details specific actions that will save the koala, its habitat and in turn thousands of other animals, fundamentally changing the relationship people have with nature.