Certified Sustainably Produced

The certification of sustainable wine production is the guarantee that an independent evaluation, by a third party credentialled according to the Portuguese Quality System, confirms that good sustainability practices have been implemented. It is an important source of information to assess, guarantee and improve the environmental and socio-economic conditions of the industry.

The certification path allows for a greater understanding of these sustainability practices, as it requires evidence to facilitate:

• Product risk mapping;
• Design and requests for tender;
• Customer purchase guidance

The WASP certification scheme focuses on 4 global pillars:

• Supervision, Management, Quality
• Social
• Environmental
• Exclusive requirements

The quality recognition system of the Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme (WASP) is based on requirements defined in the 18 chapters of the programme and on ISO standards, which is an internationally recognised standard.

Certification Model

The Certification Model is based upon a set of requirements that must be met prior to applying for WASP Certification.

Requirements to fulfil prior to applying for WASP Certification:

1. Performing a self-assessment. The self-assessment was developed as a standardised method to benchmark the Programme. It includes a matrix for members to complete when evaluating their performance. 
2. Obtaining the Developed level on WASP´s 18 Chapters.
3. Regardless of having their own grape production, or purchasing grapes, the grapes must necessarily originate, at least 60% from vineyard area, registered in WASP. Thus, the criterion for purchasing grapes must always be applied to winegrowers registered in WASP, raking in the Developed level, with a score greater than or equal to 3.5. Like the latter, the criteria for selecting wine suppliers must comply with the guarantee that the wine purchased, as a result of grape production with PDO or PGI origin, are from vineyards that comply with the above.
4. The granting of WASP Certification will be carried out by a certifying body, accredited by IPAC (Portuguese Institute of Accreditation) for ISO/IEC 17021 (certification of Management Systems), that is approved by the CVRA.

A third-party validation and recognition of the sustainability system for the WASP member's production process will only proceed when the WASP member achieves the Final Category of Developed for the 18 WASP Chapters.

In order to guarantee the credibility of the project, the self-assessment/s conducted by each WASP member will be subject to internal verification by the CVRA.

General Sustainability Category

The General Sustainability Category will be achieved after completing the self-assessment for all of the 18 available chapters.

Minimum Percentage of Transition to the General Sustainability Category of the WASP

The final objective of each WASP member is to continuously improve their processes in order to eventually achieve the General Sustainability Category of DEVELOPED.

WASP members will be able to apply for certification of their implemented sustainability programme by an independent certification body that complies with the requirements established by the CVRA.

The requirements will be applied to the three types of existing Programmes, according to the three different sectors: Viticulture, Cellar, or Viticulture & Cellar.

The Programme has a set of 11 chapters for Primary Intervention and another set of 7 chapters for Secondary Intervention.

The Certification Bodies

The CVRA developed the normative reference document titled “WASP Technical Specification”. This reference document defines the process to evaluate how the WASP was implemented into the management system of the WASP member, so that they can obtain certification according to the sustainable production framework (WASP certification).

The CVRA’s normative reference document titled “Technical Specification WASP” was developed in collaboration with the four Certifying Bodies (CB). The four CBs, entities accredited by IPAC (Portuguese Institute of Accreditation) with ISO/IEC 17021 (certification of Management Systems), are:

For more information about the WASP Certification system, please contact the Sustainability department of the Alentejo Regional Viticulture Commission (Comissão Vitivinícola Regional Alentejana  - CVRA).