As Green as they come…
Friday, March 30th, 2012
Leading Chilean wine producer and a big favourite of ours, Emiliana, almost swept the board at the Wine Industry’s “Green Oscars” this week; The Drinks Business Green Awards 2012.
Not only did they pick up “Best Picture” or Green Company of the Year but they also scooped this year’s Sustainability Award.
For the last 14 years Emiliana have been busy converting a huge amount of land to organic and *biodynamic vineyards as well as gaining fair-trade certification and pursuing carbon neutrality. No other producer in South America and few in the world are even approaching Emiliana’s shade of green. Certainly there are few with over 900 hectares certified organic of which 580 are also fully certified as *biodynamic.
“today we realize that being 100% organic and sustainable from the social, environmental, andeconomic perspectives is possible. We are tremendously proud to obtain this award and it motivates us to continue working in the same direction” José Guilisasti – General Manager of Viña Emiliana
In terms of wines the results of all this hard work are some of Chile’s most exciting and highly praised wines the most obvious of which is Coyam, a wine that has achieved almost cult-like status as well as huge success internationally. The Ge is another step up; it is their icon wine and unarguably one of South America’s finest wines with a price to match.
For a more affordable taste of the Emiliana’s organic excellence the Chicken Run Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah are well worth seeking out both express perfectly the purity of fruit and overall balance which I believe defines Emiliana’s wines. Incidentally the wines are called Chicken Run because chickens are used as little dual function pest controllers and fertilizers! However there is one more wine which captures everything that is exciting about Emiliana and that is Etnico a rich, juicy blend which Emiliana have nicknamed “Baby Coyam”. Utterly delicious.
Things can only get better as this dynamic producer strives to better itself year on year and continues to demonstrate an insatiable appetite for improvement and innovation.
Fair Trade. Social Responsibility. Certified Biodynamic . Certified Organic. Sustainable . Carbon Neutral
*Biodynamic is the cutting edge of organic viticulture. The vineyard is treated and considered in its entirety. The vineyard is worked in accordance with nature’s cycles to raise a healthy crop without the use of chemicals. Biodynamics uses animals and beneficial plants to take the place of herbicides and pesticides.
We were the toast of the retail world on Saturday night at the 2010 Retail Excellence Award the country’s largest retail industry awards. O’Briens Sandymount was awarded Irish Retail Store of the Year 2010 and Best Medium Store. Sandymount was selected from over 400 entries from the best retailers all over Ireland. A huge congratulations goes to Kevin Ralph, Fintan McCormick, George Gaffney and the whole team in Sandymount for this achievement.
Gold medals in the Decanter World Wine Awards also were dished out to 3 of our wines: Beaumont des Crayères fine vintage Champagne, Fleur de Prestige 2002,