Lapostolle Winery Attains CarbonNeutral(R) Status
NEW YORK, July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Lapostolle is proud to announce that it has just achieved CarbonNeutral(R) status as part of its wider efforts to be sustainable and positively affect climate change. The CarbonNeutral Company is the world's pre-eminent company in providing solutions for tackling climate change, to reduce CO2 in a way that has inspired personal, commercial, and environmental benefit. Since Lapostolle's inception in 1994, its founder, Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle (whose great grand father founded Grand Marnier), has been committed to the goal of crafting world-class wines using sustainable practices. Today, all of Lapostolle's vineyards are organically managed and biodynamic, meaning they use no pesticides and work in tandem with the land's inhabitants to fertilize and cultivate crops.
Lapostolle's commitment to sustainable practices has led the winery to target their product exports for carbon emission reduction as these emissions are third party and non-reducible. This means that with CarbonNeutral(R) certification, Lapostolle is now able to offset some of the CO2 emissions produced from storing and shipping. Lapostolle wines have been measured and balanced to reach net zero through high quality Energy Saving and Green House Emission reduction projects. To offset their carbon emissions, Lapostolle is contributing to the Guizhou Hydro Power Project, helping to displace fossil fueled electricity by introducing renewable energy and to help develop a system of roads and infrastructure in this remote, mountainous region of China.
The philosophy behind the winery emphasizes the complicity between man and nature, reflecting Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle's belief in respecting the environment and having a reciprocal creative relationship with the land. Lapostolle has always been interested in sustainable winemaking, from building a five-floor gravity fed winery (three of which are based deep underground in the granite of the Chilean coastal Cordillera foothills) to never using pesticides. Additionally, grape harvesting is done almost entirely at night eliminating the need for cooling tanks. The grapes are also 100% de-stemmed by hand to conserve energy and ensure that only the best fruit is selected. The bottles use 60%-70% recycled glass and each case of wine is made from wood cut from sustainable Chilean forests.
In its short history Lapostolle has ranked in Wine Spectator's top 10 wines three times. In 2008, the brand received two of the industry's highest awards as its top cuvee Clos Apalta 2005 was recognized as the #1 wine in the world by Wine Spectator in a blind tasting of over 20,000 wines, and Wine Enthusiast named Lapostolle the New World Winery of the Year.