LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

GROUP 5, SESSION B: FOOD PRODUCTS 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
132. Assessment of the life cycle of a Portuguese wine: from viticulture
to distribution
Belmira A. F. Neto 1,* , Ana Cláudia Dias 2 , Marina Machado 3
1 CEMUC, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal, 2 CESAM & Department
of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal, 3 Faculty of Engineering,
University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal, Corresponding author. E-mail: belmira.neto@fe.up.pt
This study assesses the life cycle assessment of a wine produced in Portugal, i.e., the white green wine, designated
as vinho verde branco. This is to identify the environmental impacts occurring along the wine life
cycle. The stages considered include activities taking place during 1) Viticulture, 2) Wine production (from
vinification to storage), 3) Distribution and 4) Bottles production.
Materials and energy consumption as well as the emissions to air, soil and water from the wine campaign of
2008/2009 were reported to the functional unit (0.75 litres of white green wine). A Portuguese company,
located in the northern part of Portugal, responsible for the production of about 20% of the current total production
of white green wine, supplied specific life cycle data, including information regarding transportation
of grapes, wine, must and other wine production related products. Information concerning the distribution of
this wine consumed worldwide is also made available by the company in terms of the amount sold to each
country and the transportation mode.
The life cycle approach taken shows Viticulture as the stage that mostly contributes to most of the impact
categories. The production of glass bottles appear as the second larger contributor and Wine Production and
Distribution appeared as the third larger contributors. The Production of wine products and the transportations
of grapes, wine products and wine and must have a comparatively negligible effect. Sensitivity analysis
results show that some parameters are very influential.
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