The battle for sustainability labels in France is intensifying. France’s first such label, Terra Vitis, has increased significantly in the past year. They have doubled their membership and now have 1,800 members with 45,000 hectares, equivalent to 300 million bottles a year. Their total area is over 5% of the entire French wine surface, a milestone for the organization.
Terra Vitis describes itself as an alternative route between organic farming and HVE, the Haute Valeur Environnementale, the sustainability label under the French Ministry of Agriculture. Terra Vitis believes that many of the rules of the two labels are similar but that Terra Vitis has greater control of the use of pesticides and, above all, they severely limit the use of carcinogenic synthetic products (so-called CMR). Approximately 6,700 producers are HVE certified. Read more terredevins.
Note: “Sustainable” has no single and unique official definition. There are many different sustainable certifications, with varying rules (although often very similar). “Organic”, on the other hand, has one single definition within the EU; all organic wines follow the same rules and must have the green EU leaf on the label.
Read: If you want to know more about sustainable, organic, etc., then read our book “Biodynamic, Organic and Natural Winemaking; Sustainable Viticulture and Viniculture”.
Read also:
Read more on sustainability and organics in wine in our article series.
