“Wine is bottled poetry.” Robert Louis Stevenson was a failed lighthouse designer, an excellent drinker but above all the writer who gave us some masterpieces of our literary imagination, authentic archetypes of storytelling such as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Bottled poetry has always described the wonder of wine and its extraordinary ability to tell stories. Today that wonder is called sustainability. And the circular economy is the paradigm that supports it.
The Winery of the Future, the project of the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo together with its partners, Schneider Electric, Wolf System, Siad and Rina in collaboration with La Banca del Vino and Italia Circolare, tells a strategic vision and together a catalog of proposals, innovations and new opportunities capable of improving the efficiency of the production process in the winery.
Writing the new sustainable wine poetry
Wine poetry today must respond to the questions dictated by the ecological transition and take on new responsibilities. In short, it must rewrite its Sustainability proposal defined in the three dimensions of environmental, economic and social. To do so, it must achieve with its production chain the SDGs Goals of the Paris Agenda, adapt the value chain of its investments to ESG criteria, and make production efficient according to the rules of the European Green Deal. Most importantly, measuring and certifying production processes dictated by the Circular Economy paradigm, valuing waste, reducing material consumption, responding to new packaging regulations, being a benchmark for nutritional sustainability, valuing secondary raw materials generated from production waste and by-products, reduce environmental impact and CO2 emissions, increase energy consumption by using more and more renewable energy, better manage water, respond to the demands of the new corporate social responsibility, and implement communication and marketing management by adapting the information contained in labels (and more) to the European directives on Green Claims.
The bottled poetry of wine today needs this content and language to tell the wonder of sustainability. He cannot and should not do without it.
The six words that answer the question of what the sustainable future of the Future Winery will look like
The project addressed the sustainability of designing and building wineries, the rational use of gas and water resources in the winemaking process, the reduction of climate-changing gas emissions, the promotion of energy efficiency measures and energy production from renewable sources, the measurement and certification of the recovery and recycling of materials and production waste, and the need to use communication as a new economy of relationships that the winery implements in compliance with European regulatory compliance and beyond.
A vision that has been defined by six words that answer the question: what will the Winery of the Future look like? Innovative, because the future speaks the language of research, development, enterprise 4.0, technology, digitization and process efficiency; Sustainable, because even in the winery the three dimensions of sustainability are the goal to be achieved; Circular, because doing more and better by using less raw materials, less water and more renewable energy, recovering and regenerating all by-products and production waste, is the only possible solution that can build the competitive and sustainable future of winemaking; Resilient, because crises and transitions can only be addressed and overcome through a common vision of all stakeholders in the supply chain, united to achieve sustainability goals together; Measured, because only constant monitoring and understanding the value of data can improve wineries’ production efficiency and sustainability; Certified, because only in this way can we determine the value chain “that enables the present generation to meet its own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.”
Efficient, digital, measurable and sustainable. Schneider Electric’s proposal
Producing wine is an industry that has reached a total turnover of more than 17 billion euros. Of this, about 9 billion comes from exports (effectively driving Italian Food & Beverage worldwide). In this economic and production context, 28 percent of wineries have initiated digitization projects, especially with regard to distribution and packaging processes, mechanized production management and telematic control of packaging. All through an increased focus on sustainability, safety and the environment.
Schneider Electric, the French multinational leader in the digital transformation of energy and industrial automation, whose goal is to enable everyone to make the most of the energy and resources available to them, combining progress and environmental care has defined its mission to be the digital partner for sustainability and efficiency. Even in the winery: “In 2022, 44% of Italian wineries (11 out of 25) declared themselves 100% energy self-sufficient or use only energy from renewable sources. But that is not enough. Companies that want to strategically play their cards so as not to be caught unprepared must therefore consider the many aspects that can impact their short- and medium-term profitability. In a market with slim margins, any optimization can make a decisive contribution to corporate growth. Thus, for example, as the complexity of the machines used in the various stages of production increases, it is necessary to increase their flexibility and reliability, making use and maintenance simpler and more economical.” How can we define a 4.0 winery?
“A winery where electrical distribution, building, production process and utilities are interconnected.”
Future Winery to test green building with Wolf System
And then there is the envelope, the building, the place designed and built to be and make cellar. Wolf System is a company with more than 3,000 employees and 25 locations worldwide, which has been active in wood construction for more than 50 years. “Our corporate philosophy is based on innovation and research of new technological systems that reflect the values of sustainable building and social responsibility for the future of the next generation.” For this reason, the company has put major investment in research and development at the center of its corporate policy and has thus become a reference company in Italy in the field of wood and steel structures for agriculture, industry, commerce, agribusiness, tourism and the residential sector.
Wine sector activities are highly dependent on natural resources, solar energy, climate, water and soil. And from the full integration of these elements with ecological processes. Consequently, it is a duty to protect and preserve these natural assets through sustainable development practices for the long-term duration of these activities. Therefore, we asked them what it means to build the Winery of the Future and what sustainability design and construction means: “Choosing to use environmentally friendly materials as much as possible. Starting with wood, a formidable material because it does not produce CO₂. Also because the whole process related to its use, from the cutting of the log to the finished beam, is tracked and regulated by very stringent and detailed standards. In all our projects we choose materials that will help us realize the complete envelope with specific characteristics of the technical physics applied to the winery, taking into account very important parameters, especially if we are talking about wine, such as the level of humidity of the air inside the building, its temperature, the temperature range between inside and outside. To this we add certified materials that significantly reduce environmental impact. This method allows us to make a truly environmentally sustainable product.”
Sustainable gas properties and technologically advanced plants. The Siad method
And then there are the sustainable properties of gases. SIAD Group is one of the most important international chemical groups and develops its business in four main sectors: industrial gases, engineering, healthcare, LPG and natural gas. At the core of its actions is sustainability and reducing the environmental impact of its production activities. We asked them what gases are and why they are so important in the winery: “Climate change, with gradually rising temperatures, earlier harvests and increasingly hot days. The wine market is undergoing a major change, facing new challenges and expressing new needs, seeking truly effective and customized solutions for each winery. SIAD has taken on the task of interpreting these demands, identifying ad hoc and innovative answers through its established expertise in the gas and engineering sectors. A commitment made starting from the unquestionable value that gases, over the years, have gradually assumed in oenology: from being complementary in certain stages of processing, they have become fundamental elements in the entire production process, from the detachment of the bunch to the bottling of wines. The solutions we propose for enology are based on the properties of gases, optimized by technologically advanced systems. Specifically, carbon dioxide used from the vineyard to fermentation, nitrogen and argon from fermentation to bottling, oxygen in wastewater purification, and for micro- and macro-oxygenation.”
Rina explains the indicators that measure six areas of circularity to certify the winery and its production paradigm
RINA is a multinational inspection, certification, and consulting engineering company operating in a wide range of markets, including energy, marine, infrastructure & mobility, certification, industrial, real estate, and food. How does measuring sustainability affect the quality process of a product or service by transforming it into a competitive factor? Can we say that the main, most qualifying and competitive driver for sustainability is the circularity calculation?
As part of the La Cantina del Futuro project, Rina presented the first circular economy standard, UNI/TS 11820:2022, which includes some seventy circularity indicators. “Circularity is one of the fundamental aspects that help to avoid waste not only of materials and, therefore, to pursue efficient processes in all the stages (direct and indirect) necessary for the realization of the product. These are indicators that measure six areas of circularity. The first refers to material resources, i.e., input materials, while the second refers to energy and water resources. The third refers to waste and atmospheric emissions, the fourth to logistics, the fifth touches more properly on the product and/or service, thus the whole activity of wine production, while the sixth is inherent to assets, human resources, policies and sustainability (e.g., sustainability certifications and procedures that the company adopts in its management).
The Winery of the Future is involved above all on the indicators that concern incoming material resources, that is, on the origin of everything to be used in the winemaking process. Without neglecting the circularity of water resources: there must be all the washing activities in the winery that will optimize water recycling. Another issue to consider is that of logistics, starting with the distance of the vineyard from the winery, although the most innovative aspect concerns assets and human resources: the more the property is in a high energy class, the more efficient it is. Even better if the property has certifications such as those related to energy efficiency such as, for example, the management system according to UNI CEI EN ISO 50001. For human resources, one of the aspects considered is turnover: the less turnover there is the better the efficiency in terms of costs of education, training, shadowing without considering administrative management. In this sense, turnover enters into the calculation of the level of circularity.”
This is what the new bottled, sustainable and circular poetry that will make wine taste better and better will look like.
Ps. All this and more you can read in the White Paper The Cellar of the Future. searchable here
