About Salcheto

The Carbon Footprint

The 2009 vintage bottlings of Salcheto are the first bottles that will appear on the shelves of Italian and international markets which have calculated all the associated emissions of carbon dioxide from their manufacture through distribution. Salcheto has obtained the CSQA certification no. 24378, the first in which a carbon footprint of a bottle of wine was created according to ISO 14064 standards (i.e. the inventory of Green House Gas emissions). The analysis, a true trailblazer for the industry, has produced an index of 2.02 kg CO2 equivalent per 750ml bottle, including not only, the work in the vineyard and winery, but also the emissions from obtaining raw materials (glass in particular) and transportation to the final consumer.

This is a milestone of great importance for the wine world as the analysis of the environmental impact, measured in terms of CO2 emissions, is an essential tool to improve the ability to communicate it in a clear, transparent and certifiable manner to the consumer through a simple numerical index. At Salcheto, the path to reduce emissions is already underway and travels hand in hand with quality production of our wines. Starting with the 2011 harvest, in fact, the company is relying on full energy independence, becoming, probably, the first “Off Grid” winery, in the sense of being completely disconnected from traditional power distribution networks (only 2% of the renewable energy produced, sourced from photovoltaic, uses the electrical network as a storage facility, the best environmental choice considering the already existing infrastructure). This result has been achieved by combining, in an integrated way, energy savings and renewable energy sources present in its countryside, not only Solar Photovoltaic but also geothermal and biomasses systems.

But the research is already looking further: "Every goal is a starting point and the system of analysis that we have studied allows us to identify some important critical impact on the environment of modern wine consumption. Knowing how much CO2 is produced allows you to analyze how much energy is consumed and where this is wasteful. So we are already working on alternative packaging options, the major emitters of greenhouse gases in wine, which will be presented later this year " are the words of Prof. Eng. Domenico Andreis, coordinator of the Working Group - Salcheto Carbon Free. The research unit created by Salcheto is now operational and organized, its goal is to offer the wine industry more environmentally virtuous managing models, based on consistent performance analysis tools, and therefore certifiable and transparent to consumers and stakeholders in general. This approach has led to an open proposal aimed at institutional and private actors in the sector, the Charter of Montepulciano, online at www.cartadimontepulciano.it