Sustainability at Elena Walch
As Karoline Walch and I walked the vineyards, the important concept of sustainability came up.
“My family has been here for five generations and I hope the vineyards go on for the next five generations in the same family hands. So it's obvious that what we do today is really also about thinking of the next generation. What we take out today is something we really have to give back also.” - Karoline Walch of Elena Walch
See Elena Walch: the History in the Cellars for an overview of the history and a tour of winery with Owner/Winemaker Karoline Walch.
Visit Vigna Kastelaz: Elena Walch’s Iconic Gewurztraminer Vineyard with Owner/Winemaker Karoline Walch
I hope you enjoy this brief 2 minute video.
Special thanks:
Karoline Walch of Elena Walch
Steve Noel http://childrenofthegrape.com
Transcript:
Note: Transcript was created by a third party service and I’ve endeavored to clean up the spelling of ‘wine words.’ There are also some Italian words that I have difficulty knowing how to spell. Any persistent errors are mine alone and not Karoline’s.
Or, watch the video. It is awesome.
Karoline Walch:
Another important aspect for us is the sustainable approach in the vineyards, but also in the cellar and also social wise.
Sustainability is a program that we've started many years ago and we feel it's something that you never really achieve. But you constantly add new things with the idea of going away from a monoculture of viticulture, but really increasing biodiversity in both flora and fauna.
And hence, we have a lot of things that we have applied, for example, in the vineyards where we try to intervene as little as possible. We have legumes that are being planted between the vines to increase mineralization. We have our own compost that we produce and is then being laid out on all our vineyards. We have water monitoring systems with the idea, that tells in every single moment the humidity, the temperature, the leaf wetness, the humidity within the ground, like the weather condition within that specific site.
With the forecast and together we know whether we have to intervene or withheld. Always with the idea to intervene as little as possible because we know that the healthy vineyard is really regulating itself.
My family has been here for five generations and I hope the vineyards go on for the next five generations in the same family hands. So it's obvious that what we do today is really also about thinking of the next generation.
What we take out today is something we really have to give back also. And in this way, that's how we try to work our vineyards.
THIS IS EPISODE #92 OF UNDERSTANDING WINE WITH AUSTIN BEEMAN
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FTC Compliance: I currently work for Cutting Edge Selections which represents Elena Walch in Ohio and Kentucky, but this blog and podcast are completely separate from that business relationship.