Organic and Biodynamic are not enough anymore, we believe that the key word for a green future is Sustainability.
We love Organic farming and some of our producers are applying Biodynamic procedures too, however we are motivated by a strong believe that those were the pillars of the 90s and 2000s, and it is now the time of a new challenge, and this is the Sustainability.
How can we follow organic and biodynamic procedures in a world that is constantly growing while getting smaller, and is facing fast and severe climate changes? For us the answer is only one: SUSTAINABILITY.
Every grower in Nicola Biscardo Selection believes that the SUSTAINABILITY is the right path to follow in every aspect of the business: grape growing, wine making, sells and marketing, logistic and administration. We do this by joining forces, sharing valuable ideas and investing in research and technology.
As direct growers and winemakers we believe that Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable business models are the answers for a clean future.
Social sustainability to us means safeguarding our regions and their traditions, including wine production. It means investing, innovating, and creating value and high-quality products with the involvement of everyone. In our portfolio we are proud to have and support many young entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs, who have chosen to invest in agriculture, inspired by our work at Nicola Biscardo Selections.We are not just an Italian Wine Selection, we are a beautiful community.
Environmental Sustainability: the carbon footprint certifications
Social and environmental sustainability must go hand to hand; to preserve the traditions of a region and create value, you must safeguard the environment. Many of our producers joined the “Programma Nazionale per la Valutazione dell’Impronta Ambientale”, promoted by the Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare. The program’s aim is to promote business strategies that foster sustainable development, with priority to the reduction of greenhouse gases for large scale retail products.
Meteo-station with micro-sensor at Tenuta La Sala in San Casciano Val di Pesa, Tuscany.
The Carbon Footprint
The Carbon Footprint of a product measures greenhouse gas emissions, in terms of carbon dioxide, from the extraction of the raw materials (in our case grape growing) until the phase of product consumption and disposal of the empty bottle, thus offering an indication of the impact of that product on global climate change. We then realize that a significant percentage of the emissions are related to grape growing, so our producers put in place innovative solutions and futuristic ideas.
– We use drones that constantly monitor the vineyards checking the color of the vines to identify potential stress, thus revealing diseases.
– We have micro-sensors stations distributed in our vineyards capable to spot funguses attacks and parasites attacks.
– We use “electronic leaves”, infrared sensors, special soil probes all connected wireless.
This massive amount of detailed datas are elaborated by refined logarithms developed in collaboration with several Italian Universities and communicated on real time to our agronomists, growers and winemakers so that we can limit to the bare minimum the usage of chemicals in the vineyards thus the carbon dioxide emissions of running tractors on diesel fuel.
What has been done in our cellars to produce “green wines”.
Reduction of water consumption:
We have implemented the automation of washes during the final filtration and bottling phase and in tangential filtration, reducing consumption of solvents and washing and rinsing water. During the discharge phase, fractions containing solvents (to be sent to purification) are separated from the final rinsing fraction that is sent directly to the water storage for irrigation use.
Solar energy:
Since 2012 each of NICOLA BISCARDO SELECTIONS winery has had a photovoltaic system (of different capacity according to the size of the winery in question) to generate energy that is entirely used for self-consumption.
Architectural and engineering upgrades:
During the vinification phase some of our wineries experimented and then adopted the Air Mixing system (by Parsec) that uses cool bubbles of filtered air fired at the bottom of the tanks, instead of mechanical crowders and reassembly pumps. This system, in addition to washing and overturning the skin hat, helps the ejection of carbon dioxide that is formed during fermentation and contributes to the cooling of the must in fermentation, reducing the demand for refrigeration. In total, a 20% reduction in the energy required for the same amount of fermented product has been estimated.
New vinification tools:
– Air conditioning at the winery has been designed with recovery and recycling of the air already treated so as to minimize the work of heating or cooling. The façade of the offices has been designed with windows that drastically reduce the need for artificial lighting and—thanks to irradiation—in the winter period the use of heating is limited. Outdoor lighting has been designed to minimize light pollution.
– Some of our wineries have been built following the so called “bio-Architecture”, focused on low environmental impact while ensuring the prefect workplace for our workers and for the developing wine.
– New and efficient bottling lines to minimize energy consumption and maximize efficiency, both for the quality of the wine and the quality of the air we breathe.
First emotional vineyard “Dynamic-Energetic” in the world at Agriverde in Ortona, Abruzzo.
We built “emotional vineyards” able to attract desirable insects as well as curious humans for an healthy and non sterile environment.
Yellow for Energy and Creativity
Green for Knowledge and Equilibrium
Blue for Harmony and Trust
Orange for Wisdom and Ambition
Red for Passion and Life Strength
Learn more about the “Emotional Vineyard” under Agriverde winery in the section “Our Producers”
A view of an organic vineyard at Signano in San Gimignano, Tuscany.
We all promote “Bio-diversity”, keeping an healthy balance between vineyards, olive trees, wheat fields and wild forest.
Each winery in NICOLA BISCARDO SELECTIONS believes and applies the rules of bio-diversity. For us it is almost a religion a special “mantra” that we repete every morning before walking to our vineyards. “Bio-diversità” or “life-diversity” because we believe that there is no need to exterminate parasites poisoning our fields and waste energy trying to manage Nature, on the contrary, Mother Nature is perfectly capable to manage herself, we just need to understand it and respect it!
Instead of killing we promote life in our vineyards, we attract as many bugs and wild life as possible, we don’t use herbicides for manicured vineyards, but we let Nature go wild and exuberant to enhance the perfumes and the flavors we’ll then discover into our wines.
This and much more represents our commitment for a Sustainable wine making and healthy lifestyle.