Organic viticulture: record vineyard area certified in Austria
Austria continues to set standards in environmentally conscious viticulture: almost 12,000 hectares of vineyards are cultivated according to the comprehensive and independently controlled sustainability program for viticulture "Nachhaltig Austria". This corresponds to 27% of the total vineyard area. A remarkable development - the certification was only launched ten years ago. Austria is also an international pioneer in organic viticulture: 25% of the total vineyard area is certified organic.
The "Nachhaltig Austria" area is cultivated by 655 farms and covers 11,925 hectares, i.e. over a quarter (27%) of the total area under cultivation. It has more than doubled since 2019, while the number of farms has almost tripled.
Other environmental certifications are also widespread in viticulture in this country: 25% of the vineyard area is certified organic, making Austria number one globally. More than one in ten organic vineyards is also cultivated biodynamically. These figures show how important environmentally conscious viticulture is in Austria.
Measurable effects and continuous development
"Nachhaltig Austria" was developed by the Austrian Winegrowers' Association in collaboration with scientists over several years and launched in 2015. For the certification, around 380 measures of a winery are evaluated in terms of their sustainability.
An evaluation of the data from all 655 wineries shows clear, measurable effects: No insecticides are used on 77% of the "Nachhaltig Austria" area. In addition, glyphosate is banned on the entire area, and 83% do not use any other herbicides. Two thirds of the farms have energy class A, A+ and A++ buildings or underground cellars. 23 farms are completely energy self-sufficient.
The certification at a glance
For certification, all of a winery's production measures in a wine year are assessed - from work in the vineyard and winemaking to social aspects such as employee development. In total, there are around 380 measures in nine sustainability areas: quality, social, economic, climate, material, energy, soil, biodiversity and water.
All of a company's measures are recorded annually in a scientifically developed tool and receive a rating between +10 and -10. The program uses this to determine an overall rating for the nine sustainability areas according to the traffic light system: green, yellow or red. For successful certification, at least seven areas must be green and a maximum of two may be yellow. The measures that have a particularly positive or negative impact on the sustainability areas are listed in detail in the official transparency paper.
If a winery meets the requirements, it is certified by independent, external inspection companies (LACON or agroVet / Austria Bio Garantie - Landwirtschaft GmbH). In addition, each winery receives specific recommendations on how it can work even more sustainably in the future.
