5. From the Vineyard to Everyday Life

The environmental impact of the wine supply chain can be broadly broken down as follows:

• Packaging (glass, cardboard, corks and capsules):~30–40%
• Transport and distribution:~25–30%
• Winemaking (electricity, refrigeration and pumps):~10–15%
• Viticulture (tractor fuel, fertilisers and soil N₂O emissions): ~10–15%
• Waste, wastewater and other factors:~5%

The Priorities for Reducing Wine’s Environmental Impact

To reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of viticulture, the most effective actions, in order of importance, are:

1. Use lighter bottles.Reusing bottles, whenever possible, is an even more sustainable solution.
2. Use recycled glass, which requires significantly less energy to produce.
3. Optimise transportby reducing shipment volumes and journeys, while choosing recycled packaging materials.
4. Use renewable energythrough 100% green electricity suppliers, heat pumps and well-insulated buildings.
5. Install variable-speed drives (inverters) on pumpsto improve energy efficiency.
6. Promote multifunctional cover cropsandminimise soil cultivation.
7. Use on-farm compostand createhedgerows, flower strips and ecological corridors.
8. Choose low-impact plant protection products, favouring natural physical barriers such as silicon or kaolin.

By implementing just the first three measures, it is already possible to achieve around80% of the overall reduction target.

What Pian del Pino Does

These are some of the practical measures adopted on our estate:

• Maximum bottle lightweighting: for still wines we use 420 g Burgundy bottles, made with recycled glass whenever possible.
• Reduced transport:we work with carriers that optimise routes and minimise empty journeys.
• Sustainable logistics:we partner with carriers committed to certified carbon neutrality goals.
• Protecting biodiversitythrough minimal soil cultivation and stable, thriving ecosystems (MAN Method).
• Biodiversity plan:flower strips, native mixed hedgerows, bee hotels, refuge rows, horse-manure compost and recovery of pruning wood.
• Natural insulation in the wineryto reduce energy consumption.
• Pumps equipped with variable-speed drives (inverters)to minimise electricity waste.
• Natural clarification, taking advantage of seasonal temperature changes instead of artificial energy.

Everyday Choices Matter

A natural question follows: which actions can individuals take to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions?

Some of the most effective include:

• Reduce beef and dairy consumption:estimated saving of around half a tonne of CO₂ per year.
• Choose sustainable mobility:up to 2 tonnes of CO₂ saved each year.
• Reduce food waste: more than one tonne of CO₂ saved annually.
• Improve household energy efficiencythrough insulation, efficient appliances and conscious energy use.
• Switch to renewable electricity:1–1.5 tonnes of CO₂ saved each year.
• Replace gas boilers with electric heat pumpspowered by renewable energy.

With just a few targeted changes,each person can reduce emissions by 3–4 tonnes of CO₂ per year—roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of a small winery producing 5,000 bottles.
Ten environmentally conscious people could therefore offset the emissions of a winery producing 50,000 bottles.

Shared Responsibility

This reminds us that evaluating the sustainability of a winery is important, but it is equally essential for each of us to rethink—even slightly—our own daily habits.
Not in terms of sacrifice, but of conscious reduction: small actions that, when combined, create significant collective change.

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