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Chateau Maris Becomes Certified B Corporation

First winery in Europe to be certified as a B Corporation

Chateau Maris Becomes Certified B Corporation

First winery in Europe to be certified as a B Corporation

Published 03-07-17

Submitted by Chateau Maris

Chateau Maris

Chateau Maris, a pioneer in organic and biodynamic wine making located in the Languedoc region of France, is proud to announce that it has become the first winery in Europe to become a B Corporation. It joins 2,000+ Certified B Corporations using the “power of business to benefit the greater good”.

Chateau Maris exceeded B Corp's rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability having earned 90 points on the assessment, well over the 80-point minimum threshold. Chateau Maris’ full B Score Report is available to the public here.   

Chateau Maris has produced award winning organic and biodynamic wines for nearly two decades. Partners Kevin Parker and Robert Eden acquired the domain in 1997 and immediately began the conversion to biodynamic principles in an effort to restore life to the vines. Certification requires seven years of meeting rigorous standards and Maris received biodynamic certification in 2004. Maris also completed the world’s first vinification cellar made entirely of hemp, lime and sustainable wood in 2012. Maris has been called one of the Five Most Environmentally friendly Wineries in the World by Wine Spectator  Magazine. Partners Parker and Eden have been hailed as the ‘Biodynamic Apostles of the Languedoc”.

Since its inception, Chateau Maris has been committed to integrating sustainability into its business practices, in respect to their employees and the communities they work in, as well as in their own operations. In their journey to becoming a B Corp, Chateau Maris underwent a series of performance and legal measures, including an evaluation of their impact on stakeholders, and the incorporation of sustainability into its mission and governing documents.  

About Chateau Maris
Chateau Maris is a family owned boutique winery with a two decades old commitment to sustainable farming practices. Organic and biodynamic certified by the leading associations in Europe, Maris continues to develop and promote biodynamic practices around the world. The principals are also recognized leaders in the field of sustainability. Robert Eden is a Board Member of the Jane Goodall Foundation and frequent lecturer and speaker in the field of sustainable agriculture and biodynamics including most recently at the Paris Climate Accord. Kevin Parker was an early voice in the fight against climate change and worked closely with a number of organizations working to promote sustainable practices, including the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB), CDP (formerly known as Carbon Disclosure Project), Ceres’ Investor Network on Climate Risk, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the National Resources Defense Council and the Potsdam Institute. Parker is the Managing Partner of Sustainable Insight Capital (SICM), an active equity manager with offices in New York, London and Sydney. SICM is also a proud partner with the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change on a real time carbon counter, hosted on SICM’s website. The purpose of the counter is to show in the rapid rise in Atmospheric CO2 which is threatening the global economic model while posing challenges to current assumptions about risk and future asset valuations. 

About B Corp
B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Today, there is a growing community of more than 2,000 Certified B Corps from 42 countries and over 120 industries working together toward 1 unifying goal: to redefine success in business.

About B Lab
B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement to redefine success in business so that all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the best for the world. B Lab drives this systemic change through a number of interrelated initiatives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between “good companies” and good marketing; 2) passing legislation to accelerate growth of social entrepreneurship and impact investing (24 states have already passed benefit corporation legislation); 3) developing B Analytics, a customizable platform for investors to benchmark and report on the impact of their global equity portfolios; and 4) providing free, powerful tools for businesses to measure, compare and improve their social and environmental performance (more than 16,000 businesses use B Lab’s free B Impact Assessment). For more information, visit www.bcorporation.net.

Chateau Maris logo

Chateau Maris

Chateau Maris

Chateau Maris is a family owned boutique winery with a two decades old commitment to sustainable farming practices. Organic and biodynamic certified by the leading associations in Europe, Maris continues to develop and promote biodynamic practices around the world. The principals are also recognized leaders in the field of sustainability.

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