Environmental analysis of Ribeiro wine from a timeline perspective: Harvest year matters when reporting environmental impacts

Life Cycle Assessment Application to the Wine Sector: A Critical Review

“…Some authors also assessed any improvement opportunities of viticulture environmental performances considering, for example, the use of biodiesel for field operations [15], the use of pesticides with lower potential toxicity [42] and the optimization of fertilizer use [37,46]. Although for the carbon footprint, the environmental performances of the two wine types are very similar, for the other impact categories this is not true (Figure 4).…”

“…The contribution of these key factors to the total impacts of viticulture varies with the impact category and the paper considered; in terms of CF, for example, the production and use of fertilizers can provide a contribution from 85 to 30% to the viticulture impact, while the fuel consumption can contribute from 40 to 20%. Some authors also assessed any improvement opportunities of viticulture environmental performances considering, for example, the use of biodiesel for field operations [15], the use of pesticides with lower potential toxicity [42] and the optimization of fertilizer use [37,46]. Moreover, viticulture is the phase with the widest variability of results.…”

“…Nevertheless, the energy consumption is the key factor that affects the environmental performance of this phase the most [28]. In fact, this phase can even contribute up to 93% of the total impact [42].…”

“…The treatment of the organic waste produced during the vinification processes is another key factor [42]. Wine wastes consist of grape pomace, lees, stalks, and wastewater in percentages variable by winery and wine type [48].…”

“…The environmental performances of a wine bottle can vary a lot among different years [42]. Therefore, in the definition of the functional unit, it would be preferable to declare the specific year taken into account for the environmental assessment.…”