SUSTAINABILITY IN THE VINEYARD AND BEYOND: WHY IT MATTERS

Sustainability is one of those words that gets used so often in the wine industry that its meaning can blur. At its core, it means farming and production that does not compromise future generations, ecosystems, and economies. Environmental harmony is the most obvious factor, but social and economic responsibility are also important parts of the equation. Sustainable practices include protecting soil health and biodiversity, conserving water and energy, reducing chemical inputs and emissions, treating workers fairly, and supporting the long-term economic viability of the farm and surrounding community. Official third-party certification for sustainability in the wine industry is recent; in fact, it is largely a 21st century phenomenon. 

The wine industry has a complicated relationship with the environment. On one hand, viticulture is agriculture in its most place-specific form; great wine comes from land and climate that must fit strict parameters for Vitis vinifera to thrive. As we’ve explained in prior newsletters, there are two geographic wine belts that wrap around the earth, north and south of the equator and within these belts terrain and microclimates must combine in a perfect storm to produce the best fruit from the vines. On the other hand, wine has become a global industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and like any industry of that scale, many players prioritize short-term yield over long-term stewardship. Synthetic pesticides, chemical fertilizers, overextraction of water, monoculture planting that strips biodiversity from the surrounding landscape, carbon-intensive production, and inefficient shipping are all unfortunate aspects of modern viticulture and winemaking.

The California Sustainable Winegrowing certification was introduced in 2010 and is among the most rigorous sustainability programs in the American wine industry. To obtain and maintain certification, producers must meet over two hundred best practices across sixty vineyard criteria and forty-one winery criteria, track and report annual metrics for water use, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and nitrogen application, comply with strict restrictions on crop protection materials, and submit to an independent third-party audit every year. There is no self-certification pathway and not even a grace period for underperformance. The program requires continuous improvement, year over year, to maintain status, which ensures that a certified producer not only meets a baseline but actively improves.

The Teruzzi estate was founded in 1974, eight years after this DOC status, by the engineer and amateur winemaker Enrico Teruzzi. Partly due to this timing and growing international recognition of the DOC, it developed into one of the largest producers of Vernaccia di San Gimignano. In 2016, the business was acquired by a corporate entity, the Terra Moretti group. Interestingly, the corporation has chosen to invest significantly in sustainability rather than simply extracting margin from the acquisition. As proof, six years after the acquisition, in 2022, Teruzzi earned Equalitas certification, which required years of investment and organizational work across every department of the company. Alessio Gragnoli, Teruzzi's general director, has described the process as a commitment that involved every employee, not just the winemaking team. "All the employees have a specific role to obtain the goals," he said in a recent interview.

Equalitas has become Italy's most comprehensive wine sustainability standard, built on three pillars: environmental, social, and economic. Each pillar must be proved with measurable indicators verified by an independent third party. On the environmental side, it assesses soil and water biodiversity, carbon and water footprints, and the full spectrum of vineyard and winery practices. On the social side, it examines worker development, safety programs, gender and salary equality. On the economic side, it looks at the sustainability of the business model itself. The certification is valid for three years and requires ongoing compliance with recommendations and requirements throughout that period.

A positive byproduct of the certification process for the company has been constant innovation. For example, Gragnoli has practiced green manuring (sovescio), the planting of cover crops that are subsequently plowed back into the soil while still green, across the entire cultivated area for ten years, building organic matter and soil biology. Teruzzi also employs recovering vaporizers, which recapture and recycle the liquid used in vineyard treatments, reducing water consumption by approximately fifty percent. Sensor technology connected to a central control unit monitors vine health in real time, allowing treatments to be applied only when conditions require them, which minimizes any type of chemical use.