Some of these steps may not be obvious when picking up a bottle from a wine store. But there are clues we can look for if a winery is trying to respect the environment and meet the challenges of climate change.
At Troon Vineyard, a winery in Grants Pass, Oregon, General Manager Craig Camp used a bottle of wine as a prop to tell me about the steps the winery is taking to minimize its environmental footprint.
“The biggest challenge is always the weight of the bottle, especially with supply shortages,” Camp explained. “We found one that we really liked and that weighed only 400 grams, it’s quite light. But it was made in Spain, and it didn’t seem like such a bargain in terms of money or carbon footprint to ship air across the ocean. So we found one made in Oregon that weighs 450 grams, and we only have to truck it for a few hours on the highway from Portland. (This 450 gram bottle weighs about a pound, and it’s still light. The average weight of the bottles I recommended through June of this year was 505 grams, although I weighed some that were two times heavier.)
Wineries’ increased demand for lighter bottles will continue to drive average weights down, Camp said. “New technologies can make lighter glass strong enough,” he said.
The color of the glass is also relevant. Troon uses transparent glass – which is more easily recyclable – for its white wines and its light reds intended for early consumption. They use green glass for reds meant to age a year or two, to protect them from light damage.
Then the labels. “Our labels are tree-free, made from leftover sugar production, sugar cane fibers that would normally be thrown away. You therefore recycle agricultural waste and save trees. Troon’s labels also mention the winery’s Demeter biodynamic and bioregenerative certifications.
Keep watching and you’ll notice something is missing. “We don’t use capsules,” Camp said, “because they don’t do anything.”
So consider the cork through the transparent neck of the bottle. Environmental thought also enters into the choice of cork. Troon uses Origine de Diam, a cork made from fragments of natural cork that have been treated to remove all traces of cork taint. Most Diam corks are sealed with microplastics. Troon pays a little extra for Origine by Diam, a line sealed with beeswax and plant substance. “When you pull the cork, you can see a little mist on the neck of the bottle,” Camp said. “It’s perfectly organic and compostable. A little more expensive, but worth it. »
Troon is a small winery, but its environmental efforts are similar to those of large operations. In Italy, Tuscan winery Avignonesi recently obtained B Corp certification to go along with its organic and biodynamic certification from Biodyvin, a rival certification group to the more common Demeter. As part of the B Corp process, Avignonesi published a 2021 impact report detailing the winery’s environmental impacts.
“We continue to reduce our ecological impact, adding more solar panels every year to become energy self-sufficient and buying new fuel-efficient tractors to reduce our diesel emissions,” said Virginie Saverys, owner of Avignonesi. The winery has invested in electric and hybrid vehicles and is eagerly awaiting advances in electric tractors, she told me on Zoom.
Saverys noted that she became a more energy-conscious driver once she bought a hybrid car, and expressed hope that her vineyard workers would respond in the same way. Solar power and energy-efficient vehicles represent a significant investment for any business. But Saverys pointed out that Avignonesi also sweats the little things you and I might consider trying to reduce our own environmental impacts.
“We continue to challenge ourselves to use less plastic, encourage smokers not to drop their cigarette butts in the vineyard and to use water bottles instead of throwing away plastic bottles,” a- she declared.
But the main changes are similar to those at Troon and other wineries concerned about environmental impact. With its latest releases, Avignonesi has reduced the average weight of its bottles, saving around 40,000 kilograms of glass each vintage.
And on the front labels of these latest releases, a QR code directs consumers to a web page with information on nutritional values and a list of additives — “In our case, only sulfites,” Saverys said. We will see more similar information about European wines under new European Union regulations that will come into force at the end of 2023, requiring wineries to provide information on the ingredients and nutritional information of their wines.
Avignonesi’s QR codes will also contain information about the winery’s environmental values and suggestions on how to recycle or “upcycle” the bottle and cap.
“Thanks to covid, everyone now knows about QR codes,” she said. As we get used to using them, we may also become more aware of the steps wineries are taking to reduce their environmental impact and how we can help them.
Comments are closed.