During this month, there are several world days that draw attention to sustainability and environment awareness. For example, Energy Efficiency World Day, Global Recycling Day and Water World Day. The last Saturday in the month is the date for the global initiative called Earth Hour. Today, environmental awareness plays a role in an ever-increasing number of industries and activities. We spoke with head winemaker Antal Benesch about how to make winemaking-viticulture activity green and what measures the Archdiocese Winery is taking in this field.
Today, in the majority of segments of the consumer market we come across environmental aspects, starting with foodstuffs and going all the way through to cleaning products and the cosmetics industry. Sustainability, recycling and the use of renewable energy are all hot topic issues as concerns most enterprises and industries. In March, there is a particular focus on this subject thanks largely to the world days, outstanding events that are designated for this month, such as recycling and energy efficiency world days, or indeed the Earth Hour initiative.
Winemaking and viticulture are activities with a long history. Those who work in this field have always been considered to be doing their job in harmony with nature. But what sustainability and environmental awareness aspects can appear in the life of a winery today?
“After graduating from the University of Horticulture’s Viticulture and Enology program, I spent months in New Zealand to get to know the viticulture and winemaking processes there. It was good to see how modern they approach this area. So it is not surprising that New Zealand is at the forefront of environmentally conscious and sustainable winemaking and viticulture. According to the data in the sector’s 2022 sustainability report, 96% of the New Zealand grape and wine sector is certified sustainable, and 10% of wineries are organically certified. The New Zealand wine sector aims to make its activities carbon neutral by 2050,” explains Antal Benesch, chief winemaker.
According to the expert, there are many opportunities for a Hungarian farm or winery to incorporate an environmentally conscious approach into everyday life, and they also apply several of these at the Veszprém Érseki Winery.
We try to pay attention to the needs and quality of the soil. For example, we use fewer soil-absorbing agents and we do not use herbicides. In addition, we have created rainwater collection points so that we can use less tap water during spraying and use rainwater instead.
The Érseki Winery has been involved in grape growing and winemaking for about 750 years. The preservation of wildlife also plays an important role on the winery's two vineyard estates – Mindszentkálla and Felsőörs.
We have placed birdhouses and beehives in order to increase the protection of biodiversity, adds the head winemaker. Antal Benesch also mentioned that they also try to apply environmental awareness aspects during packaging and bottling.
"We use recycled aluminum screw caps on our wines instead of cork, thus protecting the environment. Our bottles are made of lightweight glass to reduce transportation costs and reduce our carbon footprint. We also aim to switch to using recycled paper for wine labels and wine packaging (cartons)," the expert added.
