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Headline heroes: Franco Bastías, Domaine Bousquet

You are the first international winery to receive Regenerative Organic Certification. Can you tell us more about what that means?

For us, it’s a huge achievement to be the first South American winery to receive Regenerative Organic Certification. It represents a step forward in seeking better ways to cultivate vines on our land; this conscious investment in the health of our soils only strengthens our organic philosophy. We think that this philosophy will make huge improvements across all organic agriculture, not just viticulture.

What was the biggest challenge in meeting the requirements of the Regenerative Organic Certification?

I think the biggest challenge was related to the cover crops and the management of a cover soil. For example, we cannot use disks (farming tools used to prepare the soil for planting or sowing) or any tillage. The changes in these practices required significant effort, not only in terms of learning new techniques, but also the adoption of a new mindset relating to enriching the soil and its long-term sustainability.

What is the next major step for Domaine Bousquet in advancing the sustainability mission?

We have come a long way from the early days of Domaine Bousquet, although sustainable development was a key goal from the outset. Indeed, Domaine Bousquet is the leading organic winery in Argentina – 11 million litres of organic wine were exported from Argentina in 2022, of which seven million were from Domaine Bousquet. We think we have the ‘viticultural duty’ to accept the commitment of these practices, believing that the change of the paradigm in agriculture is not only possible, but also necessary. The next major step for us is to start to measure the environmental impact of organic, biodynamic, and regenerative practices. To attain this goal, we are now focused on analysing and reducing our carbon and water footprint – a neutral carbon footprint is the desired outcome.

In partnership with Harpers and Domaine Bousquet

• South Africa
• Organic
• Headline Heroes
• Domaine Bousquet