Members of our vineyard, technical and management teams recently joined a specialized course to deepen their knowledge of soil care and ecosystem preservation in Alta Alella’s vineyards.

For more than three decades, Alta Alella has embraced a sustainable philosophy based on respect for the land. From the very beginning, we committed to organic farming and a style of viticulture that places soil health and ecosystem balance at the heart of wine quality and the winery’s future. In line with this vision, our team attended the course “Regenerative agriculture applied to the vineyard”, organized by the Escola Agrària de Cabrils, to further explore this approach.

What is regenerative viticulture?

Regenerative agriculture is rooted in restoring life to the soil, rather than focusing solely on vine production. This vision is fully aligned with the practices we have long implemented on the estate: maintaining spontaneous cover crops, integrating forests, shrubs and aromatic plants into the vineyard landscape, avoiding insecticides (even those approved for organics), and introducing beneficial fungi mycorrhizae in new plantations to help roots grow stronger and absorb more nutrients.

Photo showing nematodes in the soil of our estate

The course reinforced our understanding of the importance of soil biodiversity, especially beneficial fungi and their mycelium, which transform organic matter into nutrients for the vines. Microbiological analysis of our sauló soil revealed a hidden universe of organisms such as nematodes, protozoa and soil insects, all working together to maintain fertility and balance.

One of the sessions was held at Alta Alella, where we welcomed professionals from across the sector to study the macrofauna and soil structure of our vineyards. The hands-on activity revealed positive indicators such as insects, beetles and earthworms, clear signs of biological activity. The analysis also highlighted the uniqueness of our sauló terroir and the importance of continuing to nurture its organic matter.

Photo of insects in the Alta Alella vineyards

This training encourages us to keep evolving with concrete actions towards a more conscious form of viticulture, one that remains deeply connected to the soil. It is another step in our ongoing commitment to respect the land, listen to its needs and preserve the identity of the territory that defines us.

Alta Alella is a member of the Barcelona Biosphere Commitment to Sustainable Tourism, a distinction that recognizes tour operators that are committed to: environmental sustainability, culture, working conditions, gender equality and social and economic return. In order to obtain certification, the applicant institution must demonstrate that it exhibits the following five principles:

1. Commitment to a sustainable mission, vision and values of the organization, with an annual improvement plan in different areas.
2. Ongoing training of our team to learn how to communicate and apply sustainability to the sector and the company.
3. To support the World Charter for Sustainable Tourism, and contribute to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
4. Anticipate the negative impacts of our facilities and activities, and seek to benefit from their positive impacts.
5. To take responsibility for visitor satisfaction and communicate our winery’s sustainable principles and initiatives.

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Reusing bottles is not a new thing at our winery. Perhaps you were not aware of it, but all the natural wines of the Celler de les Aus have been released on the market in reused cava bottles since their beginnings. Until now this was not always communicated, but it has recently been included on the labels of the wines and cavas so that our customers can enjoy the wine twice as much, knowing that they are making a conscious choice to support sustainability.

From now on, at Alta Alella and Celler de les Aus we are taking another step forward in our commitment to the environment and sustainability, and we introduce a new system to recuperate and reuse our bottles. This process not only reduces waste but also support a circular economy by giving wine bottles a new life.

How does it work?

Through this initiative, our Wine Tourism Centre will collect all the bottles that visitors consume at our winery and afterwards they will undergo a rigorous process of cleaning and sterilization, which will be carried out by POTS, a company from Barcelona. Once they are as good as new -better than new, as they will now be more sustainable-, the bottles will be returned to the winery so that we can bottle new wines and they can be enjoyed again by our visitors.

In 2022, we received 10,000 visitors to our winery. In addition, we will also recuperate bottles that our distributor in the province of Girona supplies to the HORECA channel, a collaboration that increases the amount of bottle that will be reused. With this, we aim to make a significant difference to reducing waste, cutting down on the need to produce new glass and decreasing our carbon footprint.

Growing a more sustainable future

As a family-run winery, we are very aware that we must contribute to a more sustainable future, so that new generations can enjoy the land as much as we do. That’s why we will continue to explore new ways to reduce our environmental impact and inspire others to do the same.

Sensoreg’s integration of sensors and remote monitoring allows efficient irrigation management in vineyards through continuous control of the soil, the plant and the weather conditions

The main goal of the project is to optimize water management in vineyard cultivation through the digitalization and optimization of all the production processes, following criteria of efficiency and water saving, defined in a decision-making protocol/strategy that ensures annual production and improves the quality and oenological potential of the grape harvest.

In order to achieve this main objective, more specific objectives are defined in the wineries that present the project:

• Segmentation of the vineyard plots to optimize water management according to the microclimatological, edaphic and agronomic characteristics of the different parcels. 
• Optimization of water management in the vineyard, with the application of technology that gives a clear support in the decision of the following points:
  • Soil management for maximum use of the soil’s water reserves.
  • Timing, dosage and overall irrigation strategy.
• Correlating plant development, soil humidity sensor data, plant hydric stress data, and remote sensing images with the conditions of the farms where they are installed. This will help determine useful algorithms to automate the processes.
• Introduction and validation of “Saturas” technology, which allows the monitoring of plant water status.

Project financed through Operation 16.01.01 Cooperation for innovation of the Rural Development Programme of Catalonia 2014-2022

Members

Financed by

The VRIAACC project aims to develop new plants that are resistant to the climate change effects and diseases such as powdery mildew and downy mildew

Since 1999, Alta Alella has been participating in the experimental vineyard project of Resistant and Autochthonous Varieties Adapted to Climate Change (VRIAACC, acronym in Spanish), which aims to obtain vines that do not need any type of treatment and are naturally resistant to plagues such as powdery mildew and downy mildew. In addition, the VRIACC also have more drought tolerance. These new plants are obtained by floral crossbreeding (and not by genetic manipulation) between autochthonous varieties –at the moment we are working with Pansa Blanca (Xarel·lo), Macabeu, Parellada, Ull de llebre and Garnatxa negra- and other already resistant varieties.

Thinking about the legacy they will leave to future generations, the Pujol-Busquets family has always worked respecting the territory and preserving biodiversity (organic winery from the origin), and the VRIAACC project is another step forward to produce more sustainable wines.

WHAT DO WE ACHIEVE WITH VRIAACC?

• Eliminate treatments in the vineyard (copper and sulphur) and produce cleaner wines
• Less soil compaction
• Healthier working environment (we avoid the exposure of the vine grower to treatments)
• Reduction of CO2 emissions
• More quality (ripening in periods of greater temperature difference day/night)
• Less losses due to mildew, powdery mildew, botrytis, Drosophila Suzuki, drought, etc.

Other partners in the project are Celler de les Aus, Albet i Noya, Celler Josep Piñol, Institut Català de la Vinya i el Vi and VITEC (Centro Tecnológico del Vino).

Grant “Creación de nuevas variedades de vid autorresistentes a enfermedades criptogámicas y sequía (VRIAACC 2022-2025)” funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”.

‘Alella, poble cuidador‘ (caregiver village) is a local initiative dedicated to the care and accompaniment of people suffering from loneliness and their families, either because of a chronic illness or because they are at the end of life. This caregiver network, open to the collaboration of institutions, organisations and neighbours of Alella, focuses on three basic principles: care and accompaniment, skills building, and education and awareness-raising.

The Pujol-Busquets family, from the Alta Alella and Celler de les Aus, have joined the initiative as partners, with the aim of contributing to improving and sustaining the work carried out by this network of carers in the town of Alella.

We invite you to become a member and work together for a more equal, supportive, respectful and affective society.