The Alentejo Regional Wine Growing Commission - the body that controls, protects and certifies Alentejo wines - decided to develop the Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme to make Alentejo a sustainable wine growing region.
Launched in 2013, this pioneering programme in Portugal is free and voluntary. It aims to provide members of the Sustainability Programme with a tool to assess how they currently carry out their activities and to offer recommendations on best practices to enhance competitiveness and improve the sustainability performance of wine production in Alentejo. The challenge ahead is to produce quality grapes and wine in a cost-effective manner, whilst protecting the environment and improving relations with employees and neighbours.
The plan follows the standard method of continuous improvement by being an organised system in three distinct sectors (Viticulture; Cellar; Viticulture & Cellar). This distinction between sectors relates to the type of members present in the Alentejo Regional Wine Growing Commission. The Sustainability Programme consists of thematic chapters with various associated criteria.
Sustainability in the vineyard is to have innovative approaches that lead to the conservation.
The challenge to achieving cellar sustainability is to ensure a balance between a prosperous agroindustry, an environmental performance that respects the surrounding ecosystem, having a positive impact in people and community.
With unique natural features, Alentejo is home to numerous species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians in different sizes, shapes and colors. Thus, Alentejo is one of the Portuguese regions with the most diverse wildlife and one of the European ecosystems with a greater concentration of biodiversity.
The diversity of flora in Alentejo is one of the main differentiating elements of the region, as well as other strongly rooted characteristics, such as it’s food and homemade medicinal remedies.
