Earth day 2021. Quality starts at the point of origin.
When we started Honest2Goodness back in 2009 our guiding principle was simple – to source the best quality we could find at the closest distance. This ethos remains true to this day.
Quality is not added along the way through processing, marketing, branding or packaging. It starts at source – at the point of origin.
Over the past 12 years it has become more and more important to overlay quality with sustainability. They go hand in hand and one should not be to the detriment of the other.
99.9% of our wines are European. They make the shortest journey possible to Ireland. It also allows easier access to the producers to see how they grow their grapes and produce their wines.
We have chosen three producers who excel in sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. Practices that minimize their environmental impact. Skip to Earth Day Mixed Case.
BODEGAS VERUM, CASTILLA LA MANCHA, SPAIN
Ulterior Mazuelo, Garnacha, Graciano & Albillo Real, Elias Lopez Montero’s range of wines are organically produced and made in recuperated clay amphorae with only small levels of sulphur added when bottling.
In addition the vineyards & wines have many other sustainable aspects such as:
- Low bottle weights
- Certified organic – no chemicals or artificial fertilizer
- Use cover crop to balance the ecology
- Use of native yeasts leads to less and less SO2 added to wines
- Use mules to work the vineyards for Las Tinadas and Ulterior
- Old vines requiring less or no irrigation and less treatments
- Use old restored clay tinajas for the Ulterior range – local people used to make their own wines 50 and 100 years ago. Verum are now taking the old amphorae off their hands and reconditioning them. The tinajas are NOT epoxy coated and are stored 10 metres underground so less need for energy consumption.
Olianas is the first entirely BioIntegrale winery – this is a new concept of ethical agriculture that the winery has developed to ensure protection of the environment. It bestows a moral obligation to maintain and enhance the growing environment so that a better ecosystem is passed onto the family’s children.
BioIntegrale includes:
- The integration of animals in place of mechanisation
- Limiting human intervention on crops
- Elimination of chemical and synthetic treatments
- Nutrition of the soil and not the crops
- Monitor and nurture the wider ecosystem – flora, fauna, fertility & vital organisms
- View wine simply – as a natural, alcoholic drink made from the fermentation of grapes requiring the lowest level of human intervention. Nothing more complicated than that.
DOMAINE FABRICE GASNIER, LOIRE VALLEY, FRANCE
In the village of Chezelet to the east of Chinon town, and nestled on the edge of the Parc Naturel Regional Loire-Anjou-Touraine, Domaine Fabrice Gasnier is certified both Organic & Biodynamic.
The Domaine’s contract with nature is permanent and longterm respecting the rigorous principles of Organic farming. Coupled with the principles of Biodynamics, the vitality of the vines and quality of the grapes are enhanced to accurately express the terroir of the region and the vintage.
And unlike some, the Domaine does not strive for vintage consistency – wine as nature intended will taste different every year!
The Domaine’s methods include:
- Cultivation of the vines instinctive ability to find water and nutrients at a depth of 5 to 7 metres.
- The vine therefore regulates its own food and water supply avoiding deficiency and excess.
- Natural soil cover between rows provides habitat for insects, bugs and mites – vital to preserve the soil ecosystem.
- Use of natural treatments such as seaweed & mushrooms during growing season.
- Pruned branches are crushed, supplying 50% of humus required by the vines
- Use of brush compost rich in bacteria and aerobic fungi – the pillars of the soil’s microbial ecosystem
