(Decanter) - Spanish winemaker Miguel Torres Snr has said that wineries must aim to be carbon neutral and that he is looking at ways to re-use carbon dioxide from fermentation as part of a project that involves investing more than 10% of company profits annually. John Stimpfig reports from Penedes.

Miguel Torres Snr, president of Bodegas Torres and with operations across Spain, US and Chile, was speaking at a Torres & Earth presentation in Penedes, Catalonia, this month to showcase new and emerging technologies that could help wineries mitigate the effects of climate change.

‘In 10-15 years, I think it is perfectly possible we will see wineries which are carbon neutral with zero carbon emissions,’ he said.

Torres has become known as a passionate advocate of environmental protection after he saw Al Gore’s film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in 2007.

‘I came out of the film and said to my wife, “we have to do something about global warming for the sake of our vineyards”,’ he said.

Several studies suggest that climate change poses stark risks for vineyards, which may be exposed to more extreme weather and see traditional grape varieties struggle to achieve balance in altered conditions.