The Sustainable Pitch
In the modern tasting arena, sustainability has become a one of the main elements of appeal,
in the same way as terroir. Sommeliers today don’t just describe a wine’s aromas and vintage; they speak of soil regeneration, low-intervention farming, and reduced carbon footprints. Sustainability is a selling point — a story behind the bottle that consumers want to drink in!
How Sommeliers Use Sustainability in Tastings
Sommeliers weave sustainability into their pitch by:
• Highlighting organic or biodynamic certifications, such as Demeter or Ecocert.
• Emphasizing minimal intervention, natural fermentation, or gravity-flow winemaking.
• Telling each story of the regenerative agriculture, like cover crops, composting, and
encouraging biodiversity in the vineyard.
• Sustainability is a quality marker — that healthy soils = healthy vines = expressive
wines.
“This wine’s vineyard uses sheep for weeding and fertilizing,” you might hear, “and that liveliness you taste — that comes from life in the soil.”
While investigating the current practises we were impressed with Torres’ Wine Project and its
objectives. These plans were set up to protect and renew working systems, and developed a
momentum that has brought rewards.
Miguel Torres Maczassek: “Our ancestral grape variety project didn’t really start as a climate change project; the project was set-up to bring back forgotten (pre-phylloxera) grape varieties out of a sort of cultural heritage responsibility; almost an exercise in viticultural archaeology; it was really much later that we found a relation with climate change.
My father started it in the 80s, thanks to Professor Boubals (of Montpellier University)… who
suggested that although phylloxera had been devastating, it was reasonable to think that one might still find a few old vines that had survived. Back in Spain my father then started with the project by placing ads in local and regional newspaper, calling on farmers to get in touch with us if they came across vines they could not identify. Now after more than 30 years we have managed to find and revive more than 60 unknown Catalan varieties, but only 6 are really interesting from a winemaking perspective.
….as a lucky side-result, we also found that some of these forgotten grape varieties are lateripening and some of them turned out to be very resistant to drought and heat! …Very
positive characteristics to cope with climate change, especially the fact that the late ripening
goes hand in hand with relatively high acidity.” viticulturaregenerativa.org
Current Attainments in Sustainable Winemaking
Here’s what’s not just talked about — but actually being done:
• Carbon-neutral wineries (e.g., Torres in Spain or Yealands in New Zealand).
• Solar-powered cellars and closed-loop water systems (Chateau Maris in France).
• Dry farming in California and parts of Italy to reduce water usage.
• Lightweight, recyclable packaging — even flat bottles like those by Garçon Wines.
Many wineries now produce certified B Corp wines (look to Chile’s Emiliana or Napa’s
Spottswoode) — blending purpose with product.
Imagine Your Own Vines: Entertaining Vineyard Dreams
If you had your own vineyard, growing — and hosting?
• Would you plant ancient, forgotten varieties like Fer Servadou or Juhfark?
• Create an immersive wine tourism experience with glamping between the vines and
grape-stomping picnics?
• Use augmented reality wine labels that tell the story of your eco-farm when scanned?
Global Wine Tourism Experiences That Lean Green
Looking for a real-world taste of sustainable winemaking? Here are some global destinations
that offer both wine and sustainability in a glass:
• Portugal – Herdade do Esporão (Alentejo)
Offers organic vineyards, on-site gardens for pairings, and a full eco-resort feel.
• France – Château Maris (Languedoc)
A biodynamic winery built from hemp bricks. Tour the vines, taste natural wines, and
see sustainability in action.
• New Zealand – Yealands Estate (Marlborough)
Wind turbines, solar panels, and a coastal vineyard landscape like no other.
• Chile – Emiliana Organic Vineyards
Alpacas in the vines, biodynamic tea sprays, and one of South America’s leaders in
green viticulture.
• California – Benziger Family Winery (Sonoma)
Demeter-certified biodynamic and famed for educational vineyard tours.
These are immersive wine tourism experiences for travellers who care about combining sustainability and sipping in style.
What was the zero point for Torres?
“To focus even more on sustainability and to invest 10 million EUR for a period of 10 years in our sustainability program ‘Torres & Earth’. In the end we actually invested more than €15 million. (Renewable energy, biomass, electric cars, energy efficiency, adaptation of our vineyards, reforestation and research)
The 2020 target we defined at the time was to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% per bottle by
2020 across the entire emissions scope – so from vineyard to consumer – compared to 2008 levels. We achieved this a year ahead of schedule with a reduction of 34%. For 2030, our goal is now to achieve a minimum 60% reduction with the intention of reaching even 70%, becoming a winery with zero net emissions by 2040.
Final Thoughts from this extraordinary project:
“It is clear that there is a limit to what our planet can handle, but especially what our vines can handle! With rising temperatures many agricultural products – if water is available – continues to be cultivated without any notable difference to the consumer. While in the case of wine, quality and/or the quantity will be affected. Practically all vine growers in the world already noticed climate change 3 to 4 decades ago, as vines are very sensitive to temperature changes. So, we need to drastically decarbonize our world economy to contain the increase in global temperature between 1.5 ºC and 2 ºC by the 3000. This requires full participation: Obviously, each company must have its own sustainability program: I think the key word for the coming years is to work together; also as a wine-sector. “
