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At Sustainable Viticulture Systems, we increase the viability of the wine industry through wine pomace revitalization. Wine pomace is made up of the seeds, skins, and the stems of the grapes. Our company, located in the Finger Lakes of New York… At Sustainable Viticulture Systems, we increase the viability of the wine industry through wine pomace revitalization. Wine pomace is made up of the seeds, skins, and the stems of the grapes. Our company, located in the Finger Lakes of New York State, specializes in manufacturing wine pomace into food ingredients. As of 2020, we are developing new ingredients with the help of The College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), Cornell University, and a technology incubator, REV Ithaca, to create additional food products in the form of grape-seed pellets for smoking, grilling and the craft beer industries.
The Finger Lakes Wine Region produces over 18,000 tons of wine pomace every year. This is a food source, a fuel source, a paper source, and even a clothing source. However, less than 1% of our global grape pomace production is being transformed into up-cycled products.
According to Project Drawdown, reducing food waste is the single most effective way to draw climate change causing carbon, (say that five times fast), out of the atmosphere and back into the earth. Sustainability was never meant to be held up in expensive ideals. We all have the ability to make an impact starting from our basic need of nutritious food.
When Sustainable Viticulture Systems was founded in 2013, we believed that grape pomace had nutritional, flavorful, and colorful value. We believed that we could develop useful ingredients so that we could minimize food waste and the carbon footprint of the wine industry. These beliefs still drive us today. As said in Waste 360, "The problem isn't that the food system is too big, it's that we don't put all of the nutrients we're creating into their highest and best use."
Our first product, Wine Flour, launched in 2015, made it possible for us to showcase food waste as a nutritional additive across numerous industries. Wine Flour is a "super powder" used in the baking, cooking, and skin care industries to add flavor, color, texture, and nutrition to finished products. In one pound of Wine Flour, there are 100 grams of protein and 150 grams of fiber. Additionally, wine flour contains antioxidants, such as resveratrol, vitamins, and minerals including, iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.
Although, as challenging as it is to develop a market for a new product over the course of the last five years, I always say that the difference between my business and one that has failed, is that I won't give up.