Good Partners

Through investments like their LEED v4-certified Rioja winery, Beronia is forging a legacy of sustainability.

From the outside, Beronia’s Rioja winery blends seamlessly into the landscape, but there’s a world of activity under the surface. “Most of the winery is underground,” says Chief Sustainability Officer Victoria González-Gordon, “so the landscape remains more or less the same, and then what is outside is really really integrated. The shape is adapted to the specific landscape, with an orientation that makes the most of the natural light,” reducing energy usage. From the roof that collects rainwater for reuse in the winery, to the gravity-flow design that moves the wines further underground during production, to the geothermal energy that makes the most of the earth’s natural temperature, “everything was really thought of for the winery to be safe and sustainable since the start.”

Beronia’s Rueda winery is also sustainable by design, with 77.76% of its energy for 2023 provided by renewables, including photovoltaic panels and a biomass boiler that converts vine cuttings and other agricultural waste into clean energy. Both wineries are certified by Sustainable Wineries for Climate Protection, which is one of the eight different sustainability certifications held by Beronia. Says González-Gordon, “for both wineries, sustainability is key in terms of looking after the land. We are a natural product that comes from the earth, so we need to look after it, and the richer that is, the better the wines.”

At LCBO, we’re focused on building a more sustainable future through our Spirit of Sustainability initiative, which celebrates trade partners who work to promote diversity and inclusion, community investment and sound environmental practices. Learn more at LCBO.com/sustainability.

People around the world love Montes for their delicious wines and iconic angel branding. This Certified B Corporation also boasts impressive environmental credentials, but their investment in the future doesn’t stop there.

At the Angel’s Dream Workshop, employees and community members learn how to make cloth angels, which they then sell in the winery’s Emporio del Ángel store alongside handcrafted pieces by other local artisans. The angels are also distributed by Montes representatives. “These angels travel the whole world,” says Josefina Astaburuaga, Head of Impact.

Montes collaborates with the Aptus Foundation to provide educational materials to four local schools where many of the employees’ children are students. They have an onsite study completion program for their employees who haven’t finished school. And each year, in partnership with the INCIDE Foundation, Montes awards a university scholarship to an employee’s child.

Montes also extends their impact to members of the community who are often overlooked. They offer work placements to inmates of the Penitenciario de Santa Cruz, “with the same conditions of any employee,” says Astaburuaga, including pay. Three of these former inmates have gone on to work at Montes.

Students from the Santa Cruz Special Education School can apply for internships in whatever area of the winery interests them. “The real positive impact is for our employees,” says Astaburuaga. “The opportunity to work with these students, to know their different capabilities, to teach and to learn from them. It’s really beautiful.”

To Astaburuaga, the motivation behind these many endeavours is simple: “We are part of the community. Our employees are part of the community. We want to benefit our employees. We conceive of this as an investment, not a donation.”

To say that Château Lamothe-Bergeron has deep roots in Bordeaux is an understatement. The 1898 edition of the Féret wine guide describes how the estate’s 14th-century owner sold 10 vintages of his wine to pay ransom to the occupying English forces, who apparently held his wines in high esteem. In 1932, it was included in the first Cru Bourgeois classification, and its stately blue-slate-roofed château transports visitors straight back to the 19th century.

But behind all this historic grandeur is a modern winery that doesn’t shy away from change. “While rooted in the past,” says general manager Charles Lemoine, “we constantly adapt to today’s challenges, especially in terms of sustainability.” The winery has been farming sustainably since 2008 and has been at the highest level of HVE (High Environmental Value) certification since 2018. “To achieve HVE certification,” says Lemoine, “we implemented measures focusing on biodiversity conservation, flora protection, and responsible management of fertilizers and water. Practices like dry farming helped us reduce water usage. We are adapting to climate change by evolving pruning techniques and upgrading drainage systems to encourage deeper root growth.

“One challenge of a historic estate,” Lemoine continues, “is modernizing old infrastructures while preserving their character. We’ve addressed this by investing in new facilities, such as a modern white wine cellar and updates to our red wine cellar to incorporate gentler winemaking techniques and amphorae.”

All this hard work ensures that Château Lamothe- Bergeron will continue their long tradition of making wines worth their weight in gold.