Learn about our commitment to the environment

Since the creation and development of our underwater winery-artificial reef, pioneering in the world, we have always worked towards innovation, leading edge methods, originality, quality and courage. A long path of research where we wanted to break away with all kinds of roles and stereotypes, making changes in a field where tradition sometimes weighs too much.

We are an innovative company, which over the years has been awarded various nationally and internationally recognised prizes. But if there is one thing that has always characterised us throughout this journey, that is our responsibility and respect for nature and the sea, which is the main environment where we make our high quality, special and unique wines, turning them into true oenological treasures. In this desire to continue trying to reduce our carbon footprint and the effect of climate change, we are constantly carrying out different actions and measures in our winery.

Local wine production

One of the most ambitious projects has been to have an experimental vineyard and KM.0 for Crusoe Treasure Winery, just 5 minutes away from Plentzia and right next to our underwater facilities. This vineyard is in Barrika at about 130 metres above sea level, on the hills near the bay and with stunning views of the Cantabrian Sea.

 

Since 2020 we have been working on a project to bring new value to the Riesling and Sauvignon blanc varietals, both made from white grapes and within the Bizkaiko Txakolina nomination. In this way, and always under the supervision of our oenologist Antonio T. Palacios, we intend to create a new Crusoe Treasure gem and expand our current collection of Viognier, White grenache and Albariño white wines.

Among the wine tourism experiences we offer at Crusoe Treasure you will find the visit to this vineyard, where you can get to know first-hand the privileged place we are located, both on land and at sea.

Artificial-reef winery

As many of you already know, our winery is not only an underwater cellar but also an artificial reef designed to help the recovery of marine life in the area. We are proud to be the first artificial reef cellar in the world. The winery is located in a tidal zone with a sandy bottom that changes every few months. This way the winery has become a haven for many species by acting as a micro marine protected area.

Indeed, since the deploy of LSEB – Plentzia in 2010, the world’s first underwater laboratory to study the aging of beverages under the effects of the marine environment and that later on led to the creation of Crusoe Treasure Underwater Winery, more than 1,000 species have sought refuge there and the number has been increasing every year. Today, we know that it is a stable, complex, and diverse ecosystem with species native to the area and we can say that it has already become a natural habitat for them. Soon we will share a new post in our blog for all those curious people who want to learn more about the marine life in our underwater cellar.

Plastic reduction in our packaging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps one of the most remarkable commitments is the continuous innovation and transformation of the packaging of our wines. Since we won the gold medal for best packaging at Alimentaria Exhibition in the 13th edition of the Best Pack awards in 2012, our packaging has undergone several changes and modifications, the most significant one being the recent complete absence of plastic covering the bottles of Crusoe Treasure. New editions of our wines do not include this plastic cover any longer.

While we are aware that this fact may make the packaging a little stained on the inside, this in no way affects the quality of the wine and we believe it is a much needed and beneficial action for all. A simple solution is to wipe the inside of the packaging with a damp cloth to clean any sand that may remain. We believe that this effort is worthwhile.

Reuse of Crusoe Treasure packaging

A while ago, our friends at Gus&Flowers showed us how to reuse the packaging of our wines to easily create a cosy table centrepiece. In this way, we can assemble by ourselves an authentic and original flower reef at home using one of our underwater wine’s packaging as the source material.

In addition, Crusoe Treasure packaging can be used for decorative purposes at home due to their pleasant colours and the incredible watercolours made by the Japanese artist Yusei Nagashima. Another option is to reuse the bottles to turn them into lamps or candle holders, as easy examples.

If you come up with more ideas, don’t hesitate to share them with us, as we are sure you have great ideas that can help protect the planet. It was one of our wine tourism guests who suggested us the possibility of dismantling the packaging and using it as a tablemat. Thank you for this fantastic suggestion!

Finally, we would like to thank you for your trust. As a company we want to continue to reduce our footprint, and therefore we are continuously reviewing our processes and our way of doing things in order to keep improving day by day.