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Emiliana Organic Vineyards, the world's largest organic winery, was honoured in the “Organic Initiative of the Year” category by the Green Awards 2025, the global beverage industry's leading sustainability awards.
The recognition was for its vermicomposting project, a pioneering initiative that combines regenerative agriculture with circular economy on a large scale from Ovalle to Mulchén.
This recognition is in addition to the award given by the same magazine last year to Sebastián Tramón as “Green Personality of the Year”, setting a precedent for Emiliana's actions and commitment to continue on the organic path.
Transforming waste into life
The winning vermicomposting project, currently in its second full implementation season (2024-2025), operates through seven vermicomposting sites, across its seven organic 100% fields.
With an active surface area of more than 112 m², the system uses earthworms to process organic matter and generate high quality natural fertilisers, such as humus tea, to be returned to the soil through irrigation.
What sets this initiative apart from global competitors is Emiliana's collaborative and social model. Its most relevant actions were the collection of organic material such as fruit and vegetables discarded by small local farmers and free fairs, as well as including horse manure from rural neighbours, organic waste from the vineyard workers themselves and the reuse of by-products from the harvest, such as pomace and stalks.
Thanks to this effort together with local communities, in the last period the world's largest organic vineyard also managed to enrich more than 4.5 million kilograms of compostable materials with the humus discards from tea production, reducing waste and returning to the soil micro-organisms vital for the vineyards' resilience to climate change.
This vermicomposting project is adapted to the geography of Chile: while in the northern and central valleys humus tea is applied, in Biobío the leachate from the process is collected for direct injection, with application targets of up to 3,000 litres per hectare.
A standard for regenerative agriculture
The initiative is not just a fertilisation method; it is a strategic response to the current challenges in agriculture. An important part of today's challenges in the agricultural sector is the soil.
It is vital to look for new ways to increase organic matter, improve soil structure, facilitate fertilisation processes, increase soil life and more, through the implementation of new ideas and techniques.
It is demonstrated in the day-to-day actions in Emiliana's fields, that we risk innovating and adopting changes to continue being leaders in organic, regenerative and biodynamic agriculture. This award is a recognition of our ultimate goal, which is to supply and improve our soils.
This represents a significant step towards a more resilient agriculture, where the recovery of organic waste is key to both environmental sustainability and productivity” were the words of Sebastián Tramón, Emiliana's Sustainability Manager.
The jury valued Emiliana's ability to implement a nature-based solution transversally in its operations, demonstrating that waste management can become a driver of agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability.
“This award for Emiliana means tremendous recognition and is a reaffirmation that we are doing things right. It is an impulse to continue believing in this type of agriculture and to take advantage of the resources and tools we have at our disposal to improve our vineyards. Here we see teamwork, we see the simplicity of a project that generates great impacts”, commented Antonia Castillo, technical manager of Emiliana's Agricultural Management.
Recognising sustainability
The Drinks Business: Green Awards seek to recognise good practice and thereby promote new initiatives, inspiring other players in the sector to adopt more sustainable approaches to production.
In this edition there were nine categories and Emiliana was among the finalists in three others: “Ecological Company of the Year”, in second place, the “Amorim Biodiversity Award” also in second place, and the “Agroecological Launch of the Year” in third place.
- Green Company of the Year: The Drinks Business made special mention of the sustainability roadmap developed this year by Emiliana “The Future is Organic”, which led them to take second place on the podium. They highlighted the winery's commitments to maintain 100 % of organically certified vineyards, the 1,150 hectares that have an annual production of 12 million litres.
- Amorim Biodiversity AwardRecognising the more than 1,000 hectares of vineyards and 834 hectares dedicated exclusively to Biodiversity; Los Robles premium wine estate was highlighted as one of 36 biodiversity hot spots globally.
- Agroecological Launch of the YearAfter the launch of its Adobe wine in low-alcohol format, a challenge in organic agriculture, Emiliana ranked third for innovation in its wine portfolio.
About Emiliana Organic Vineyards Emiliana is a leading winery in terms of sustainability in Chile. It is internationally recognised for its commitment to organic agriculture and the quality of its wines, cultivating its vineyards without the use of chemicals.
More information at www.emiliana.cl.
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