The recent Regenerative Viticulture Symposium, organized and presented by Familia Torres, was a harbinger of the still-then unformalized Regenerative Viticulture Association. The list of speakers was impressive and they covered topics ranging from holistic farming to regenerative agriculture to the soil biome and experiences with regenerative viticulture.
Miguel Torres, General Manager of Familia Torres, was the final speaker of the day. Unlike the other regenerative viticulture practitioners on the dais, his company is in the early stages of the journey.
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| Miguel Torres, General Manager, Familia Torres |
Familia Torres, according to Miguel, has strong roots in Penedes. The family operations are headquartered in Vilafranca del Penedes, "an area with more than 2700 years of wine history. Even the Iberians made wine here." The area is steeped in organic viticulture, with more than 39% of the DO compliant.
Miguel had two areas of focus in his talk: (i) the enterprise's carbon reduction initiative and (ii) its experimental efforts with regenerative viticulture. I focus on the latter in this post.
During the course of the carbon-reduction effort, Miguel noticed that many of their vineyards were eroded -- evidenced by the distance between the ground surface and the rootstock-scion graft point. That distance was much greater now than when the grafts were initially made. This problem is evident in many of the vineyards in Penedes and around the world. In Familia Torres' case, they lose 134 tons of topsoil for every 1-centimeter decline in soil height.
Familia Torres has historically practiced mono-crop viticulture, a cultural practice inculcated by parents, grandparents, and university teachings. This system does not, however, take the carbon cycle into account and, as a result, vineyard soils are some of the poorest around. Familia Torres have embarked on a journey to rectify this historic shortcoming.
As Miguel sees it, the only machines that exists today that can reliably sequester carbon from the air are plants. Plants sequester carbon and store it in the ground, thanks to the clay-hummus complex. Given the foregoing, Familia Torres will be focused on (i) carbon sequestration and (ii) mechanisms for recovering soil fertility; that is, regenerative viticulture. Increasing minerals, microoganisms, and organic matter are key to creating living soils that can sequester carbon.
Learnings
Familia Torres has learned a few lessons in the early stages of its program and Miguel's recounting of those are summarized below.
People
One of the most important factors in the success of a regenerative viticulture program is the people. Miguel feels that if he had ordered the staff to adopt the program, it would have failed. Instead, he formed teams comprised of oenologists, vineyard managers, and R & D specialists. For a long time these teams took no action beyond reading, watching film, and debating. They created a chat group and talked constantly about new holistic and regenerative techniques. They even gave the program a new name -- living soils.
From that point on they began to work more and to plan. It was like planting a seed that began to grow. The group started to share ideas and to visualize the concept becoming reality.
Program Planning
Familia Torres set short- and long-term objectives for its regenerative viticulture program. The short-term objective was ambitious: 500 ha to be converted to regenerative viticulture in 5 years. The longer-term plan would be developed based on an understanding of each vineyard, the investments required, and the work schedule.
They stared on the journey with Mas La Plana (Penedes, calacreous-clay soils) and Mas de La Rosa (Priorat; metamorphic soils). These estates were chosen because of:
- The different soil types
- Both are high-value vineyards
- Both produce premmium wines
- Both are planted with old vines with established, deep reticular profiles that make it easier to manage change.
Soils
From the very beginning, they knew that the starting point had to be an understanding of the soils. They had to analyze the soil, its microbiology, and its mineral structure. When you are just starting with regenerative viticulture, you have to remember to feed the soil. Vineyards can be aided by an increase in soil organic matter. Familia Torres increased soil organic matter by using compost, animal manure, and bio-fertilizers to increase the richness of the soil.
From May/June onwards, mulching has been important in keeping soils fresh and humid thus increasing organic matter, reducing erosion, and increasing biomass in each vineyard.
Cover Crops
They always try to cover the soils 100% throughout the year. This enables carbon sequestration and increases organic matter that gradually accumulates on the ground.
They are willing to try anything as a cover crop: legumes, grasses, perennials, spontaneous, or a combination of the foregoing. The most important thing is to learn from each experiment. They currently have four cover-crop experiments ongoing:
- CREA -- analyzing which cover crop can sequester the most carbon in the soil
- Lleida University -- Seeking to determine which cover crop is best suited to meeting Familia Torres objectives
- Vigo University -- Seeking to determine which cover crop has the most impact on biodiversity.
- Also conducting experiments to see which cover crop can absorb the most copper from the soil (copper has always been a problem for viticulture).
The most important thing, says Miguel, is to learn from each experiment. A current map of the engaged vineyards would show different plots with different objectives planted with different species.
Animals
Familia Torres does not raise animals on any of the estates involved in the regenerative tests but are working with neighboring shepherds to get sheep into the vineyards for short, intensive grazing sessions.
Machines
Doing regenerative does not mean doing away with machines. Rather, it means becoming familiar with a whole new range of machinery:
- A machine to de-compact the soil
- A compost spreader
- A roller
- A reaper
- A seeder
- A sprayer
- A tiller.
Biodiversity
The regenerative viticulture program seeks to increase biodiversity by: creating wildlife corridors; building insectariums and bird boxes; planting fruit trees in the vineyards; planting vegetable patches; creating beehives; and creating amphibian ponds.
Hoped-For Results
Miguel hopes that the regenerative program will result in their wines reflecting the soils and the land and that the resilience they are pursuing will yield wines with a different profile to the wines of the 1990s (The aim of the '90s was to make denser wines from extremely poor soils.).
He thinks that the wines they are making from more fertile soils are much more capable of expressing freshness:
- They are finding less and less over-carmelized and over-ripe sensations
- The wines are more elegant
- The wines are more consistent because they are more resilient.
Closing Thoughts
In closing, Miguel noted the following:
- There is no regenerative manual
- Regenerative is mostly about experimenting and putting ideas into practice
- It requires a long-term commitment with an understanding that challenges will be encountered along the way but it can be done.
The planet will benefit from widespread adoption of such programs.
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