A specific session of the congress Enoforum 2015 was devoted to the EU project ECO-PROWINE.

In the first part were presented the data collected from about one hundred wineries in several EU countries, concerning the quantity of different inputs used for vinegrowing, winemaking and packaging, such as fuel, fertilizers, pesticides, copper, solfur, electricity, water, additives and processing aids, glass bottles, closures and cardboard boxes.
These data can be translated in global environmental impact by using a newly developed algoritm. The same study showed that in most cases the reduction of environmental impact of wine production coincides with a decrease of production costs.
The second presentation of the session described the web tool developed within the EU project ECO-PROWINE, that allows the self assessment of the sustainability level of a winery. The system was concieved focusing on SMEs, but can be used also by large wineries, vinegrowers and cooperatives.
Wineries can inexpensively use the tool first to identify the most critical phases of their process and therefore the improvement priorities, and secondly to evaluation their status in comparison with an EU benchmark; finally – if desired – wineries can ask for validation of their data and to be granted of the right of use of the ECO-PROWINE logo in order to make clients aware of their efforts toward better sustainability.