Social commitment and sustainability

The organic system is adopted in all the vineyards of Cantina Fiorentino.

Organic production does not only mean the use of copper and sulphur instead of the “systemics”, but above all means developing accurate viticultural techniques. It starts from the knowledge of the soil and continues with diversified interventions as needed. Only in this way the most suitable balance of the vineyard can be achieved: a healthy and correct agronomic management in which the phytosanitary problems are naturally reduced according to the vintage.

On the phytoiatric level, the Organic system has fewer direct tools available but this is not a disadvantage because it teaches us to better choose agronomic practices, such as dryland farming, to increase the natural resistance of the plant. This allows us, at the same time, to reduce costs and increase the quality of the grape which becomes more robust and healthier.

One of the two factories of Cantina Fiorentino is located in the artisan area of Galatina and rises above an old winery of the late nineteenth century whose fermenters were recovered. Renovated according to the most advanced energy saving systems, it is powered exclusively by energy from renewable sources. The energy consumption of the winery is supported, in fact, by a photovoltaic system with an annual energy balance that has total self-sufficiency as its objective.

Every detail of the Winery has been designed and built to optimize energy consumption.

For example, the insulated roof allows significant energy savings and lowers the temperature by at least ten degrees. The temperature management of the Class A ++ inverter silos and the insulated pipes also allow it to maintain constant temperature without heat loss. The wine cellar storage was designed to have a constant temperature during the seasons but different from the environment of the silos thanks to a heat pump that regulates itself and manages the temperature.

Furthermore, the wine cistern was reclaimed in order to recover the water and steam used to wash the tanks, and thermal break windows and environmental sensors for the lights on the corridors of the Winery were also installed, all for energy saving.

In addition, the whole Winery is illuminated with LED technology and the white colour was chosen for the walls and the red colour for the resin floor paint, to reflect the sunlight.

All these solutions are just a starting point.

Cantina Fiorentino is, and always will be, a laboratory to study and optimize energy consumption in the wine sector, thanks to the parent company Efficienza Energia.

Efficienza Energia is UNI EN ISO 9001 certified (for quality management requirements) and is one of the very few E.S.Co. (Energy Service Company) in Italy to have achieved UNI EN 11352 certification.

Liter of Light is the title of the project that Cantina Fiorentino and Efficienza Energia wanted to combine to contribute to an Integrated, Sustainable and Long-term Development.

Liter of Light Italia, in collaboration with Liter of Light Global, aims to spread the “Liter of Light at Night” system in the world, to contribute to the fight against poverty and to improve the living conditions of the most disadvantaged peoples through a model of sustainable intervention both economically and socially.

Access to electricity is an indispensable prerogative to guarantee fundamental rights related to human dignity and is a central resource for the development and implementation of eco-sustainable projects, since often, in developing countries, many of the private homes located in rural areas have no connection to the electricity grid.

What is the Liter of Light project?

The project initially involved installing a clear plastic bottle filled with water and bleach fixed to the roof through a hole. Using the refraction of water, this bottle provided lighting equivalent to a 55W bulb.

Subsequently, the project evolved and expanded. Now, we proceed with the installation of a 1W solar panel connected with an LED to a rechargeable battery.

Thanks to the support of the best international universities, Liter of Light now installs lighting for public and private use with powers ranging from 3 to 10 watts in various areas of the world’s poorest countries.

Depending on the situation in the area, from time to time, the most appropriate and adaptable technological solutions are chosen for the environment in which it is necessary to operate. Materials are recovered on site, local staff are trained and autonomous micro-enterprises are created in order to maintain the network and increase it efficiently.