Wines of Alentejo Sustainability programme - WASP

WASP aims to support economic agents in improving the environmental, social and economic performance of the region's winegrowing activity and to promote the recognition of the sustainability performance of the region's wines and to articulate the entire wine chain in the Alentejo within a philosophy of social, environmental and economic well-being at a local and regional level, with emphasis on the incorporation of eco-efficiency principles with the aim of promoting a more efficient use of resources, encouraging the reduction and reuse of coproducts by reducing internal operating costs. WASP is voluntary and in order to begin implementation, it is compulsory to carry out a self-assessment. This was developed to be a standardised method to be completed with a performance levels assessment organised into different chapters applied to viticulture, cellar and viticulture&cellar and with primary and secondary Intervention chapters with different criteria. After completion of the self-assessment, an overall ranking called the ‘General Sustainability Category’ is established. The 11 Primary Intervention Chapters integrate 108 criteria. In a second phase the evaluation method adapted 7 more Chapters and 63 criteria.
The criteria are included in chapters such as grape production, water, waste and energy management, packaging, etc.
WASP is a certifiable programme and a member can obtain a recognition in sustainability for the productive process by the use of the WASP stamp.