REDWine

The overarching objective of the REDWine project is to reduce the overall contribution of wine production to global warming and valorising the outputs. Within this, it will also pursue some specific objectives.

• From an environmental perspective, the project will reduce GHG emissions – principally CO2 – by capturing and reusing the biogenic gaseous carbon from the value chain. In addition, in using the captured CO2, it will replace alternative industrial production-based methods, including combustion-based. Another environmental advantage will be that – by encouraging microalgae cultivation – it can replace fossil-dependent existing fertilizers with bio-fertilizers/bio-stimulants.
• From a societal perspective, the project will stimulate new opportunities in the microalgae fermentation sector. Given the locations of agricultural cooperatives, this in turn will create many new jobs in rural areas - perhaps as many as 11,000 direct opportunities - rejuvenating areas with low employment. Importantly, many of these will no longer be seasonal jobs, linked to harvesting and production.
• It will also help meeting a growing societal demand for healthier and more environmentally friendly products. Culturally, it will also help maintain European wine production, an important part of our heritage.
• From an economic perspective, it will provide winemakers with a more diversified year-round income stream. It will also increase the overall competitiveness of the European biomass sector through feedstock and energy efficiency, business growth and investment, at the same time as ensuring environmental sustainability and an increase in local biodiversity.

By achieving its overall objectives, the REDWine project will both reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from wine production and make use of it and of other side streams in microalgae cultivation. In addition to this, it will also make contributions to specific BBI JU KPIs. It will:

• create a number of new cross-sector interconnections in the bio-based economy. These include linking the grape producing agriculture cooperatives with microalgae production; linking wine production with microalgae cultivation; linking the wine sector with the food and cosmetics sectors and linking the carbon capture sector with the food, cosmetics and agriculture sectors;
• establish a new bio-based value chain, running from farmers and winemakers to consumer products. This new chain runs via carbon capture, microalgae cultivation technology suppliers, biorefinery operators and ingredient manufacturers/suppliers.
• formulate four new types of consumer products; vegan seafood, natural cosmetics, bio-stimulants/bio-pesticides and an eco-friendly, potentially vegan wine.

In addition, the REDWine technologies will substantially reduce the pollution created by the wine industry and increase its circularity of production. It will also help Europe release the potential of micro algae cultivation.