Since the beginning, VIÑAS DEL VERO’s main goal has been focused in the wine sustainable development business based on Quality and respect for the Environment. Thus, we produce products providing a plus both in guarantee and diferentiation which satisfies our customers in an eco-friendly way. VIÑAS DEL VERO trains, informs and makes aware all the organization’s staff both about the importance of their participation in the products and services provided and also about the respect to the Environment focused on preventing contamination and on the Environment’s preservation. VIÑAS DEL VERO’s viticulture activity has shown an extremely positive environmental impact upon the natural environment, socioeconomic and cultural of Somontano’s aread.

ENVIRONMENTAL POINT OF VIEW

ENVIROMENTAL EROSION.

VIÑAS DEL VERO has significatively contributed to keep the vegetal mass by means of vineyards plantations that avoided the environemental erosion in Somontano’s area. In 1985 there were just 850 has of vineyards and nowadays there are more than 4,500 cultivated hectars, from which around a 25% corresponds to the activity of VIÑAS DEL VERO in the area.

GENETIC EROSION.

The grape varieties cultivated in Somontano are both traditional and international grape varieties, avoiding then the genetic erosion and the extinction of traditional indigenous grape varieties.

SOCIOECONOMIC POINT OF VIEW

VIÑAS DEL VERO has contributed to:
· The economic appreciation of the estates dedicated to the vinyard cultivation.
· Keep employment in the area, which otherwise would have been uninhabited.
· The creaition of new jobs in and around our wineries.

CULTURAL POINT OF VIEW

Somontano is a privilaged area in the North of Aragon both for its natural richness and also for the beauty of its heritage. Unlike other wineries facilities, Viñ'f1as del Vero keeps the landscape’s aesthetic contributing to exalt the natural beauty of the surrounding vineyards. Moreover, the vineyards do not damage the earth, but adapts to it. Thus, the visual impact is positive because it forms part of the environment.

ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES

VIÑAS DEL VERO contributes to the environment conservation and stimulates the respect for the natural resources by means of:

1. REDUCING THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION

- In the winery facilities:During the grapes and mosts rackings we make use of the gravity power avoiding mechanical procedures, obtaining a better quality of the mosts and a lower electrical energy consumption. The winery facilities were built inside the rocks having a perfect isolation to keep the right termic sensation throughout the year. Moreover, it also reduces the energetic consumption in the climatization of the barrel rooms keeping them always at a constant temperature.
- In the harvest:We prefer to harvest during the night or early in the morning in order to harvest the grapes at lower temperatures and keeping them in better conditions. We also transport the grapes from the vineyards to the winery facilities at lower temperatures provides a higher energetic saving during the harvest.
- In the vineyardas:Constantly, the agricultural machinery we acquire and also the plantations planification allows us to reduce the number of times we have to work at the vineyards in order to apply treatments.

2. PROMOTING THE ECOLOGICAL PRODUCTION.

VIÑAS DEL VERO considers that the ecological viticulture is more than an agricultural way, it is a philosophy. Currently we cultivate 48 hectares and around the 15% of our grapes are cultivated according to the organic principles.

3. REDUCING THE USE OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS.

VIÑAS DEL VERO fertilizes its vineyards mainly with organic products (compost manures and recycled urban compost) and partially with non organic nutrients (combined) applied in small portions and always to the leafs. VIÑAS DEL VERO keeps the vegetal mass between the rows of vines and every two years this mass is pulled up and used as organic manure for the vineyard. VIÑAS DEL VERO uses fitosanitar y products based on sulphur and copper of low transformation in order to exterminate plagues and illnesses.

4. RATIONALLY WATERING.

100% of the irrigations at VIÑAS DEL VERO are carried out by a drop irrigation system with minimun volume of water flow (between 1,000 and 2,000 m3/ha/harvest). Morover in some vineyards we apply hydric stress programs (providing less water than requestd).

5. TREATING WASTES IN AN EFFICENT WAY, AND REUSING THE PURIFIED SEWAGE WATER FOR IRRIGATING OUR VINEYARDS.

The sewage water is purified, storaged and used for irrigating our vineyards. Thus we do not dump wastes to public beds.

6. RECICLYNG THE 100% OF OUR WASTES OF PAPER, CARDBOARD, GLASS AND PLASTIC .

For each recycled tone of glass we avoid the consumption of 136 litres of fuel that are necessary to convert the silica of the sand into glass. VIÑAS DEL VERO belongs ECOVIDRIO. We also recycle cardboard, paper and plastic wastes.

7. PROPERLY ADMINISTERING THE OILS FROM AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY.

Bearing in mind that just one litre of oil from machinery can contaminate 100,000 litres of water, we are extremely careful with them.

8. PROMOTING THE REUSING, VALORIZATION AND REDUCING TO THE MAXIMUN THE WASTES WE GENERATE.

The organic wastes generated in the vineyards along the year are incorporated again to the vineyard:
- We reuse the harvest organic waste (steems) miced with cow manures as a base-organic manure.
- We also reuse the vine shoots, buring them as organic manure allowing the improving of vineyards earth structure.
The empties of the products used to treat the vineyards are managed in an
efficient picking up program called SIGFITO.

9. PROMOTING THE TRADING AND CONSUMPTION OF ORGANICALLY GROWM GRAPES.

VIÑAS DEL VERO belongs to the Comité Aragonés de Agricultura Ecológica promoting the trading of some wines under the guarantee label of this Consejo Regulador amongs different countries.