VSPT releases new sustainability video

South American wine group VSPT has launched a new video in which it states that the eight awards that it has won at The Drinks Business Green Awards has inspired it “to go further”.

The wine group, which owns wineries in both Chile and Argentina including San Pedro, Tarapacá, Leyda, Viñamar and Graffigna, has been committed to improving its environmental credentials for over a decade.

Back in 2009, the company launched its ‘360° Commitment Program’, which aimed to incorporate all areas of the business into a strategy to become more sustainable each year.

In 2016 the wine giant built the world’s first biogas plant that uses harvest waste to generate 1MW of thermal and electric energy to power its wine production operation. Over the years, it has planted over 11,530 native plants and 35 different species of tree through its conservation work.

It also installed Chile’s first hydroelectric plant at a winery, which supplies 250KW of power to its Viña Tarapacá winery.

The video also highlighted the fact the group now has solar panels at nine of its estates in Chile, producing 2.7MW of power.

Another of its sustainability focuses has been its work with a local indigenous community which has seen it plant the 15-hectare Mapuche vineyard in Chile’s remote Malleco Valley. From that it produced the first Pinot Noir from the region, sold under the brand name Tayu.

In 2018, it committed to producing all of its wines using 100% renewable energy by 2021. 

Over the years, the wine group has picked up a total of eight awards at The Drinks Business Green Awards. The awards, which have been held every year since 2010, remain the only set of industry gongs dedicated exclusively to green-thinking drinks companies.

Last year, VSPT picked up the Amorim Sustainability Award for Wine, impressing judges with its undiminished commitment to sustainability.