Another great step forward for green wine in Sicily: the SOStain Sicilia Foundation was set up to promote an increasingly virtuous system of practicing viticulture, based on the principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability.
"I am absolutely thrilled by the birth of the SOStain Sicilia Foundation." - says Alberto Tasca, President of the Foundation and member of the Board of the Consortium for the Protection of DOC Wines of Sicily and of Assovini Sicily - "The future can no longer be separated from a sustainable management of the territories and for this we need clear rules and structured research for the implementation of the best solutions. " - continues Alberto Tasca - "The SOStain Sicilia Foundation has the mission of coordinating research and the continuous development of the SOStain protocol for the sustainable management of Sicilian wineries aimed at continuous improvement. With this approach we will deal not only with agriculture but with management all-round company. A model applicable not only to the wine sector but to all public and private organizations. In fact, what has been happening in Sicily for several years now, it can be defined as a real cultural revolution: we learned to work making a system, to compare ourselves on different themes using the contradictory no longer as a position but as mutual growth. " - concludes the President of the Foundation - "We have learned to replace" the ego "with the" we "by working on the common good as a multiplier of collective well-being, while maintaining very different identities. I am personally convinced that this way of working is this approach to issues is the right way to draw the "new" future. "
Sicily thus becomes the first Italian region to develop, in a unitary and shared way, an integrated sustainability protocol that comes from the bottom, from the needs of producers for producers.
There are numerous aspects regulated by the Disciplinary of the SOStain program, developed by an independent Scientific Committee, which the wineries must follow to obtain a sustainability label to be affixed in the bottle.
The practices that will be examined range from measuring water consumption and the carbon footprint, to controlling the weight of the bottle, from safeguarding the flora and fauna biodiversity to the enhancement of the territorial capital, from energy saving to the health of farmers and consumers. .
The words of Alberto Tasca echo the President of the Consorzio di Tutela Vini Doc Sicilia Antonio Rallo: "I am very satisfied with the result obtained because sustainability is one of the strengths naturally inherent in Sicilian wine. Sicily has the largest organic vineyard in In Italy, more than 75% of the vineyard area is cultivated according to integrated pest management practices, an enormous variety of varieties, a climate naturally suited to the sustainability of production. The SOStain Sicilia Foundation was created with the aim of enhancing this natural heritage , encouraging and directing the wineries to undertake production dynamics based on measuring and reducing impacts. It is certainly a demanding but now very important path for the future of our territory and inspiration for the next generations ".
Alessio Planeta, president of Assovini Sicilia, the association that brings together 91 Sicilian wineries of small, medium or large sizes, united by total control of the wine supply chain, the production of quality bottled wine and the international vision of the market, joins to the words of the President of the Consortium and expresses his full satisfaction: "Assovini is proud and enthusiastic for the birth of the SOStain Sicilia Foundation, which will be hosted at the new headquarters of the association. We are confident that the Foundation's tool is the most suitable for develop a solid collective and long-term planning, independent of the strategic orientations of the individuals: there could be no better and more meaningful way to conclude the mandate of this Board of Directors. The future of Sicilian wine can only aim at sustainability as regards growth: we want it to be an authentic model for Sicily whole ".
The SOStain Sicilia Foundation is ready to welcome all the wineries in the Sicilian territory, whether they produce organic, biodynamic, natural, conventional wine and more. What unites the actors of the Foundation is the desire to enrich and enhance all that lives around the production system: the people employed, the land, the landscape, the flora and fauna and, finally, the wine consumer.
The ultimate goal is to pursue environmentally friendly, socially fair and economically effective development and to make SOStain coincide with a brand that can testify to this commitment and that supports the promotion, in Italy and in the world, of Sicily as a green model .
The Foundation's board of directors is made up of 5 producers who well represent the varied world of Sicilian wine: the cooperatives will be represented by Giuseppe Bursi, the large companies by Letizia Russo, the small companies with an orientation towards natural and biodynamic agriculture by Arianna Occhipinti , and the family businesses from Tasca d'Almerita and Planeta. The President of the Governing Council, unanimously appointed by the two boards of directors, is Alberto Tasca d'Almerita, passionate about the topic and for many years engaged in the development of a sustainable management model for the Sicilian wine sector.
The foundation will listen to the needs of the companies involved and will provide an independent Scientific Committee made up of 5 experts on the topic with the task of supporting companies by responding to research and innovation needs, thus directing research so as to satisfy the requests of the territory.
Requirements that will be collected by an operative technical committee representative of the Sicilian wine sector. A constant discussion table between winemakers and the scientific community, whose interaction aims to offer ever clearer and more transparent tools for the good running of a farm.
There are many areas and information that can be shared between companies, without compromising or changing their identity, an enlarged sharing that is nothing more than a multiplier of knowledge.
The official presentation of the SOStain Foundation will take place through a press conference hosted by the Zoom platform and will be organized over the next few weeks. Further details will follow.
