VSPT boosts green credentials with biogas plant

One of Chile’s biggest wine companies is set to boost its environmental credentials with a new bio-gas plant and hydro-plant.

VSPT will inaugurate the bio-gas plant during during the first quarter of 2016, becoming one of the first Chilean wineries to fuel its winery using organic waste materials from the winery itself. The biogas will supply around 60% of the energy of one of its biggest facilities in Molina.

It is also finishing plans for a mini hydro-plant that, once operational, will supply around 65% of the energy for its Tarapacá plant. The two projects are part of  the second phase of a sustainability plan that it developed in 2009.

“We’ve finished the process and now going the new kind of task,” CEO Pedro Herane told the drinks business. “We are trying to better understand the biodiversity in the vineyards in order to treat the land, terroir and vineyards in a better way.”

The wine company is now in the second year of a three year plan, working closely with its growers to boost efficiency, viticulture, and resource planning. Currently, around 20-25% of its grapes are supplied by long-term local growers, boosting the 40% from its own properties – which VSPT says is one of the highest ratios in Chile versus sales.

As par to the new focus, VSPT is exploring new opportunities in its terroir, by developing a non-commercial, experimental range of wines (called Los Imperios) as well as investing in its Grandes Vinos de San Pedro winery in Molina, which produces its ‘icon’ fine wine range. It is also looking at regions across the South of the Country, around Bio Bio where it has planted Carignan and País, and in the foothills of the Andes.

Pinot Noir was likely to be one of the most interesting and strongest grapes for both VSPT and Chile, Herane said, as it continued to see strong growth in domestic and international markets, especially in the USA – but the company admitted it had struggled with Carminere.

“Cabernet Sauvignon is where we have strong good qualities which are differentiated from other regions, and Sauvignon Blanc and we came do good things with Pinot Noir. But for me, Carminere is still a big question mark – although we do have many hectares planted. ”

“We know the association [Wines of Chile] is trying to develop Carminere but it has been difficult to sell internationally. I am not pushing it a lot, as our advantage lies in other grapes and varieties,” he said.

A market “inertia” remained around the varietal despite the improvement in quality, he noted and it was likely to benefit from being re-presented to the market having suffered from a historic lack of understanding on how to make a consumer-friendly wine. “The grape still needs to be accepted by a critical mass,” he added.