Promo - published on 16 August 2023
Source: Distilleria Castagner press office
Visnà di Vazzola, 10 August 2023_The circular economy is driving Distilleria Castagner’s growth: turnover has risen from EUR 13.60 million in 2021 to over EUR 15 million in 2022, and is set to exceed EUR 16 million in 2023. From the headquarters in Vazzola, the turnover figures of the Veneto-based company, which recently closed its 2022-2023 fiscal year (1 July-30 June), were released.
Grappa is still worth 70% of the turnover, but a good 30% is now represented by the valorisation of by-products, which alone have grown by 55% in the last two years. Circularity thus also becomes an economic advantage for Distilleria Castagner, which for years has been investing in sustainability and energy self-sufficiency thanks to the valorisation of residual materials from distillation.
The founder of the Vazzola Distillery, Roberto Castagner, explains in detail how they are used:
With grape skin flour we make biofuel for self-consumption and the surplus is sold to feed mills for the production of animal feed, virgin grape seeds (extracted before the fermentation of white grapes) for their extraordinary properties are used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry, grape seeds from red grapes, after distillation, are instead sold to oil mills that obtain grape seed oil. This business has grown in the last two years by EUR 1 million.
In the meantime, the grappa market recorded a slight drop of 2.9%, but the Castagner brand grew by 3%.
The most interesting prospects, – Castagner points out, – are represented by foreign markets where aged grappa is beginning to be appreciated on a par with cognac and where, in the next five years, we expect to triple turnover.
The Vazzola distillery has also studied solutions to put lighter and therefore more sustainable bottles on the market because they reduce CO2 emissions by bringing their weight from 800 to 600 grams with a 30% saving in glass, while preserving the aesthetic aspect, a very important element in the spirits sector.
In terms of energy efficiency, – Castagner adds – today we are able to cover 25% of our electricity needs thanks to the installation of photovoltaic systems that will be further implemented in 2024 to cover 35/40% of what we consume.
Roberto Castagner, one of the most famous and important names in quality grappa, has a clear vision of the road to follow in the sign of the ‘zero waste’ principle to valorise, through re-use, the surplus materials derived from the production of his fine distillates. Grappa, in fact, a product that is a symbol of Made in Italy, already represents in itself the recovery of a raw material: the grape skins that arrive at the distillery after vinification.
Achieving a true circular economy, – Castagner concludes, – is our duty not only to combat the climate emergency, but also to limit the impact of raw material increases on the end consumer.
