Sustainability in Mountain Viticulture. The Case of the Valle Peligna

The production of Montepulciano wine in Italy represents an important factor in the agricultural sector, being the second tree crop for area involved and the first for turnover produced. In this context, the mountain viticulture stands out from the others for various reasons, such as the lack of mechanisation, the low yield per hectare and its strong links with the surrounding territory, of which it has also become a landscape-heritage protection tool. The Peligna Valley is an inland zone of the Abruzzo region that houses a number of typical agricultural products, out of which winemaking stands out. Within the framework of a project financed by the Abruzzo Region with funding from the 2007-2013 RDP, the methodology of Carbon Footprint (OIV 2013. ISO 2013) was applied to the production of Montepulciano wine and the OIV (International Organisation of Vine and Wine) guidelines on sustainable and durable viticulture (CST 1-2004 and 1-2008 CST) were verified and applied. Therefore, the agricultural and oenological phases excluding the packaging, transport and consumption phases of two consecutive years were analysed. In this period, measures to reduce environmental impacts have been implemented. A deep analysis of the data revealed that the most impactful phase is farming, instead of the winemaking phase that represents an item much smaller in terms of GHG emissions. It was also seen that, thanks to the adoption of actions to reduce emissions, an improvement of the environmental performance was identified ranging from 7% and 15% of the total. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.