Page 57 - Grapevine March-April 2020

Around The Vineyard

bicide. Bio char is very stable. It can be used as a
soil amendment, and is a means of sequestering
carbon.

Carbon Accounting

Some carbon accounting methods deliberately
exclude CO emissions from fermentation. The
2
“justification” for this is to label such emissions as
“biogenic”; that is, this CO source does not need
2
to be accounted for since it is balanced by the
annual growth cycle of the vine in capturing CO2 by
photosynthesis, the so-called “short term” carbon
cycle. One wonders why there is the mandatory
exclusion of fermentation CO in some LCA models.
2
Is it to do with wanting to avoid legislative interest
in such emissions? There are laws governing dis-
posal of waste water, why not fermentation CO ?
2
By way of comparison, the OIV (2017) carbon calcu-
lator allows for the optional inclusion of fermenta-
tion CO .
2
Conclusion

There appears no valid reason why wineries
should continue to treat the atmosphere as a sewer
for CO . The means are available to avoid this,
2
admittedly at a cost.
I conclude with a question: How long before an
environmentally sensitive wine consumer is able to
purchase an alternate package of wine bearing the
label “During the fermentation of this wine no car-
bon dioxide was released into the atmosphere, or
perhaps using the attached logo?

Dr Richard Smart is an experienced viticultural
scientist and consultant. He can be contacted using
vinedoctor@smartvit.com.au, and is available for
internet consulting, in your office or in the field.

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