Earth Hour: Wine and Sustainability

On March 26th, 2022 the world will stop. For one hour the global population (or those that are awaren and supportive of the initiative) will switch off.

Lights will go off.

Phones will be silent.

WiFi won’t work and for one hour we won’t use TikTok or Netflix.

On March 26th 2022 at 08.30 pm local time, we celebrate Earth Hour. In the world, 190 countries and territories will support this initiative, launched in 2007 by the WWF.

The initiative has become more than symbolic. It has become a pledge to create a sustainable future. A better future for our planet. And for us.

When we talk about Earth Hour we are really talking about big topics: Climate Change, Poverty and Economic Sustainability. 

The Wine industry, whether we like it or not, has been suffering from climate change. Rapid changes of the seasons, extreme weathers, increased urbanisation have led to the decrease of land dedicated to agriculture, bad years for wine, causing costs of the end product to rise.

However, a new trend is emerging in the industry: sustainable, organic wine production.

Sustainable production of wine includes multiple techniques and highly refined technologies: from AI to predictive statistics. xtraWine will dedicate a specific section on these technologies in the coming months. The world of organic wines can be confusing. Biodynamic wines are different from Organic Wines and, at least in Europe, a BIO wine has a specific legal status and is legislated differently than, for example, a “free wine” (yes, we have those too!). 

xtraWine wanted to represent the whole range because we truly believe in these new ways of making -and enjoying- wines. However, to avoid getting lost in the limbo of different types and philosophies of making organic wine, we created our own label: “Green Wines”. Not necessarily a Macro but a guide to how to understand these new, fascinating and rather complicated wines.

What are xtraWine’s “Green Wines”?

“Green Wines” is an umbrella term xtraWine has come up with to include wines products of organically farmed grapes, minimum input of various compounds during fermentation, the most notable of which are sulphites and sulphur, and limited to no use of harmful pesticides aimed at maintaining bugs-free. We also include different philosophies: from Triple As to Biodynamics. For obvious reasons of quality and standards, we only offer Certified Biodynamic wines. Either way, we feel we ought to raise awareness about these new ways of producing and consuming.

Organic Wines differ in terminology but the main principle is that they recognise the existence of an ‘ethics of wine’. We do not want to be Kant but ethical farming is a way of growing produce with minimal-to-no chemical intervention. This means little to no sulphites, or chemicals that are usually employed during the fermentation of wine. Bear in mind that sulphites do exist in nature: they are naturally occurring phenomena in the fermentation stage. However, they can also be artificially added.

Organic wines tend to avoid the use or reliance to chemicals. However, biodynamic wines go one step further: they advocate a wine production that goes hand in hand with lunar phases, earth needs and the ecosystem that constitutes the vineyards. These wines are not always recognised as a type but as a philosophy. There exists a Biodynamic Certification wineries can apply for, but -at least until now- there isn’t a EU recognised law that recognises and offers directives on biodynamic wines.

To the Vegans around the world: Please remember that biodynamic wines are still employing “animal manure” so they are not necessarily vegan!

Although different legislations (EU vs US for example) apply to different types of wines, the production and the consumption of organic and sustainable wines are growing stly across Europe and the US. Spain, Italy and France are the biggest producers of organic wines. So, we could not exclude them from our #xtraWineXperience journey throughout Italy. Bear in mind: we will have an entire special on organic wines later on this year but we could not ignore Earth Day and talk about the amazing things that the wine industry is realising on a daily basis!

However, we wanted to talk about something else too: our own contribution to Earth Hour.

How are we contributing to Earth Hour?

A selection of “Green Wines’ ‘ is not all there is to xtraWine.  We know that every time we ship one bottle of wine, we are polluting. We are asking a company to send us one bottle of one wine and use fuel (whose prices are growing exponentially) to reach our homes. We have been very aware that our cool offices come at a cost: energy. And we know that sending cool packages around the world may be an exercise that may potentially harm our very ecosystem. And don’t we depend on that lovely ecosystem of ours!

Therefore, xtraWine has been working for years to avoid waste, increase the selection of green wines and, most importantly, adopt a lifestyle and a business model that puts sustainability at its core.

xtraWine Green Pledge

Sustainability is not only a word for us and we believe that Earth Day happens all day every day.

How are we trying our best?

• Shipping: Our shipping is based on very rigid logistics. We ship in 43 countries worldwide and it is important -fundamental- to maximise the timing and minimise CO2 emissions. Our warehouse crew works tirelessly to ensure that all products are sent out using efficient routes. To do this, we have envisaged routes that divide our delivery map into areas that will allow us to deliver your wine fast but also in a sustainable manner.
• Packaging. We have lost count of how many complaints we received about our packaging not being “part of the solution”. Truth is, we are! We have worked with Perbacco to design a package that will keep wine at temperature and will protect the bottle against extreme weather (an Italian summer to give you an idea), against damage from transport and, at the same time, will also protect the environment.  Our packages are not only ready to protect wine from Terminator-like attacks: they are 98% recyclable; 100% if you know where to recycle the ice-packs we add to the packages in summer.
• We know it sounds silly, but all our equipment functions on a 6am-6pm basis. This minimises the environmental impact of our work.

We are aware that more can be done and we are improving our technology to meet the challenge. However, Earth Hour hasn’t reached so many milestones in a week so we are hopeful!

Happy Celebrating!