Champagne want to become a 100% eco-friendly vineyard

 

The Comité Champagne want to become a 100% eco-friendly vineyard

 

The Comité Champagne creates a new technical guidelines for Champagne Houses

 

 

 

vert-de-vin-comite-champagne-ecologieThe May 12 2014 the Comité Champagne (Interindustry Champagne Committee) announced the creation of a new technical guidelines (good practice guide) for a sustainable viticulture. This guidelines is specially designed to match with the characteristics of the Champagne vineyards.

Twelve years after the creation of the first edition (2001) the Comité Champagne reiterates its commitment to have a sustainable viticulture (winegrowing) more respectful of the environment. What is more, this new framework will allow winegrowers and Champagne Houses to obtain the HVE sustainable viticulture certification (High Environmental Value).

With this ambitious new tool winegrowers and Champagne Houses will have the choice to pratice a sustainable winegrowing with a self-assessment or a certified sustainable winegrowing or a certified organic winegrowing.

The certification process is conduced and certified by an independent third party.

vert-de-vin-comite-champagne-ecologie-1Is it a mandatory good practice guide ?

Only a quarter of the 125 proposed measures of this new edition are mandatory. Other are voluntary measures.

In case of a certified Champagne House blend its production with grapes from a non-certified vineyard the Champagne brand have to indicate the proportions of each production.

The results of the first edition

Launched in 2001 the first edition of this sustainable viticulture guidelines allowed to educate, advise and assist winegrowers/winemakers who want to engage in this certification. This first edition was a huge success :

  • The reduction of 50 % of the quantities of protection input products for vines (1996-2011)vert-de-vin-comite-champagne-ecologie-2
  • The suppression of the most dangerous products
  • The development of alternative techniques such as sexual confusion to avoid using of chemical solution. Currently the vineyards of Champagne is the leader in France in the use of this solution. 50% of french vineyards using sexual confusion process are in Champagne.
  • The reduction of 50 % of the quantities of nitrogen (nitrates) from fertilizers and other products (1990-2010)
  • Biodiversity enhancements
  • The doubling of grass cover during the last 5 years
  • The treatment of 100 % of wine effluents
  • The recovery (recycling) of 90% of waste and of 100% of by-products
  • The reduction of the Carbon footprint (15% for CO2/bouteille and 20% for business CO2/chiffre between 2003 and 2013)
  • ISO 14001 (environmental management). More than a quarter of the vineyard is certified (volume)

The Comité Champagne want a 100% eco-friendly production and wants to find ways to exceed the objectives stated during the « Grenelle de l’Environnement » (Grenelle Environment Forum). A wine-making section would be in project.

 

Jonathan Choukroun Chicheportiche

Guidelines file

Pictures ©ComitéChampagne