circular economy

Circular economy is an increasingly used concept, aiming to promote more renewable flows and more efficient management at all production scales. It is a system based on the logic that the manufacturing of a new product should use as raw material the waste or end of a previous production, feeding different industries into each other. In this logic, we create a more sustainable cycle not only from an environmental perspective but also economically and socially.

And how does the production of Quinta das Peixotas wines fit into a circular economy logic?

In fact, the production of DOC Douro wines has fit into this logic for many decades, with ‘aguardente’ / brandy and the Port Wine as coadjutants. In this production system, all generated waste is redirected for new purposes.

When the grapes enter the winery, in the first process – which we call destemming – the grape berries are separated from the “stems,” the branches that make up the clusters. This would be the first waste, but after letting it dry in the sun, we use it as soil fertilizer.

After passing through the destemmer, the grapes begin their journey inside the winery, becoming must to ferment.

After fermentation, the new wine is filtered and racked, and the “pressing of the masses” takes place, where the remaining liquid from the must’s masses is removed. This pressed pulp – the pressed pomace – mainly composed of grape skins and seeds, would be the largest waste of our production, but this is where the Douro economy differs from many wine regions worldwide. This fermented pomace is sold by wine producers to the local distillery, which transforms it into brandy – our ‘aguardente’.

Douro brandy is highly appreciated, aged in wooden barrels, and can result from distilling the pomace or the wine itself; the former is called “bagaceira” brandy, and the latter, wine brandy.

This wine brandy also contributes to a circular economy solution: generally using wines with “less excellence” but meeting strict quality requirements (never wines unfit for consumption). This is the high-quality brandy that becomes an essential raw material for the production of the famous Port Wine.

An excellent example of a circular economy!