This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano

From grapes we naturally derive vinegar; it is the art of man that turns it into wine. But it is the magic of chemistry that allows innumerable by-products to be derived from wine production, from pomace for distillates to polyphenols for cosmetics, substances such as tartaric acid or dyes, and even energy production, with biomethane and bioethanol used to power agricultural vehicles or fed into the methane grid.

The circular economy of grapes is ancient. The first upcycling of grape waste dates back to the 6th century AD. In fact, historian Luigi Papo traces the first production of grappa in Friuli-Venezia Giulia back to 511 AD by the Burgundians, who from nearby Austria, during a brief installation in Cividale, applied their own techniques used in distillation from apple cider to distillation from pomace, thus obtaining the well-known alcohol.

More than a thousand years would pass before the product became modern. We talked about it in this article published on the Circular Economy for Food website, a project of the University of Grastronomical Sciences in Pollenzo, for which it was originally written.

Cover: Rudolf Peter Bakker, Unsplash