With sustainability a key driver of regional businesses, former AFL footballer Richie Vandenberg is taking Hidden Sea Wines into uncharted waters by aiming to remove the equivalent of one billion plastic bottles from the ocean by 2030.
“I learned to live with purpose. The way we define it is, who you are? You have one eye on what’s in front of you and the other eye on a higher purpose, a higher meeting,” he said.
Vandenberg is one of the two co-founders of The Hidden Sea. Vandenberg is a fourth generation grape grower with more than 25 years with his family enterprise. Originally from near Mildura in northwestern Victoria, he is now based on the Limestone Coast of South Australia.
“While playing AFL in Melbourne, I developed a passion for wine, particularly premium wine,” said Vandenberg.
“I liked some of the Cabernet coming out of the Coonawarra region. It also turns out that one of my ancestors, Ari Vandenberg, was shipwrecked off Robe in the 1850s. Our vineyards are now in Guichen Bay, creating a family tie to the region. I thought it was a great opportunity for us to get a winery on the Limestone Coast, and we took it.”
As an avid ocean kayaker, kite surfer, and paddle boarder, he’s seen first-hand the destruction that plastic waste has brought to ecosystems around the world. The Hidden Sea mission was born from this experience. For Vandenberg, it is about living with a higher purpose. When he wanted to start the Hidden Sea, he knew it would be more than just wine.
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“I told Justin (Moran, fellow founder) we have got to build a brand with purpose,” Vandenberg said. “We didn’t know collectively what that purpose would be, but we knew that’s what we wanted to build. That evolved because of where the Limestone Coast is and where the winery was situated. Coonawarra and the region was once covered by the Great Southern Ocean, which is the hidden sea. There’s the story of the whale – a 26-million-year-old fossilised whale sitting below a vineyard in Wrattonbully on the Limestone Coast – we had this real provenance story tied to the ocean.”
Moving from a purpose to sustainability
Both Vandenberg and Moran are lovers of the ocean. In the case of Vandenberg, he has taken part in extensive kayaking and kite surfing around the world. With that time in the ocean, they both learned more about the issues with the world’s waterways.
“Over time, we started supporting several ocean-based charities, including the Lonely Whale Foundation and heroing the Stop Sucking campaign. We really wanted to do something tangible that could galvanise a tribe of people around a goal,” said Vandenberg.
That goal is to remove the equivalent of one billion plastic bottles from the ocean by 2030. For every bottle of the Hidden Sea wine purchased, their partners remove and recycle ten plastic bottles (or their equivalent) from the sea. Since July 2020, they have removed more than 18.5 million plastic bottles from the ocean through partners.
Vandenberg acknowledges that he cannot pick and choose what they are taking from the ocean. However, he knows the importance of what he is talking about.
“We are not just taking plastic bottles from the ocean; we are taking any plastic our team comes across,” he said. “The reason we talk in terms of plastic bottles is that people understand what a plastic bottle is. It makes the messaging very simple and raises awareness far more effectively. At the same time, talking about one billion plastic bottles shows a tangible volume. People understand that it’s a vast volume.”
The ReSea Project is one of its primary collection partners. It has 47 fishermen that collect plastic from the ocean every day, which is tracked through blockchain technology, where it is bagged, tagged, and sorted. The plastic is recycled and re-purposed in Indonesia, with nothing ending up in landfills.
In terms of what is being collected from the ocean, it is primarily plastic bags and plastic bottles. Despite the growing bans on plastic straws worldwide, this has yet to occur in Indonesia. As a result, the fishermen are also collecting a lot of straws.
How else does Hidden Sea focus on sustainability?
When it comes to waste, Vandenberg has worked hard to create a sustainable business, not just financially but environmentally. The winery is solar-powered and is due to receive its carbon-neutral accreditation soon. He is conscious of eliminating or minimising waste throughout the production process.
“We recycle all the wastewater on-site. Any water we cannot recycle goes out to water the blue gum forests behind the winery,” said Vandenberg. “At the same time, we are very conscious of how we use water, given that making wine is a water-intensive process. We have changed how we clean the bins and wash the tanks. We’ve introduced crossflow filters that require a hell of a lot less water.”
Vandenberg was keen to point out numerous areas across the winery where they look at their waste streams. He cites the example of grape marc, also known as pomace. It’s the solid waste left over from pressing grapes into wine, usually made up of the grapes’ skins, pulp, seeds, and stems.
“We turn that grape marc into either feed for the animals or organic composts,” he said. “It’s not just about collecting plastic bottles; we have a whole sustainability philosophy. With the support of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, we are educating ourselves on how to be more sustainable. We reflect on the last 12 months every year and ask if we have improved our sustainability credentials.”
The winery’s glass bottles can be recycled infinitely, with the labels laser-printed onto them. The water-based organic inks are burned off in the recycling process. They use recyclable and sustainable cardboard cartons that are 100 per cent recyclable after use.
Sustainable Winegrowing Australia
Vandenberg talked about the role that Sustainable Winegrowing Australia can play for consumers and wholesalers. He believes it can play a vital role in creating a nationally trusted standard.
“They are making it easy for everyone to understand a standard for everyone to adhere to,” he said. “I think it’s a really important element of sustainability in our industry. It’s very proactive, which I commend the industry for.”
Sustainable Winegrowing Australia has more than 1100 members, with more than 270 of them being certified members. Vandenberg believes the majority of vineyards across Australia are seeking certification, but it will take time and labour for the certification process to be complete.
“The most important thing for them right now is to get numbers on board, which is what they are doing,” he said. “Once they’ve been able to do that, they need to own that space and develop the trust in the mark.”
Hidden Sea has grown rapidly in the past three years. It has several other products to potentially look at while it remains in its proof-of-concept phase. Vandenberg had to find out if enough consumers cared about removing plastic from the ocean.
“We feel like we have proven that over the last three years, we have gone from 3000 to 100,000 cases,” he said.
“The consumers are speaking with their feet or their wallets. It’s clear that people get sustainability, and we give people a choice at the purchase level.”