In this Regenerative Viticulture Series session, Abby Rose is joined by Anne Bousquet from Domaine Bousquet Vineyard, Argentina’s #1 regenerative and organic winery.

This session is focused on how to run a large-scale viticulture business sustainably and with alignment to regenerative and organic certification standards, with reference to Domaine Bousquet’s 2024 sustainability impact report.

Anne Bousquet grew up in a wine-growing family in South West France. After a successful career as an economist, Anne and her family moved from Brussels to Mendoza, Argentina in 2009 to manage Domaine Bousquet, the winery they co-founded with her father Jean in the late 1990s. In 25 years, Domaine Bousquet has grown into a thriving vineyard and business with 190 full-time employees and wines sold in more than 60 countries. Today, Domaine Bousquet runs over 212 hectares and is the #1 organic, biodynamic and regenerative winery in Argentina, with B-Corp status.

Domaine Bousquet has achieved all of their certifications (organic, biodynamic, and regenerative) through an incremental process, taking each step at a time, and introducing new changes slowly so as not to overwhelm the team. Anne shares the importance of having patience, staying humble, and knowing that management changes can’t happen overnight, ‘you cannot do more than nature allows you to do.’

Anne places a large emphasis on the importance of a business plan with short-term, mid-term and long-term goals, detailing the steps on how to achieve each stage of the transition process. Domaine Bousquet’s impact report has been a key component in organising their business plan; monthly KPIs ensure that each short-term goal is met and contributes to achieving the mid-term and long-term goals. KPIs make the long-term goal feel achievable, and provide a framework to move forward in the short-term. Anne shares how she spends at least one week a month at the vineyard, to get a good sense of how the KPIs are being implemented on the ground and met. 

It was important to Anne that the sustainability report was holistic, considering on a systemic level where they want Domaine Bousquet to be in the future, and how it sits in the global eco-system of business and viticulture, but also how it interacts with the local community, resources and environment. We would highly recommend a read of their impact report.

Anne believes that the vision for sustainability should be led by those at the top of the business. From Anne’s experience, when employees see the CEO so convinced of the sustainability needs of the company, it empowers and inspires them to feel the same way; passion is transmitted throughout the business.

In addition, knowledge and learning are essential parts of running a sustainable business successfully. Anne believes that the leaders of the business must have a good knowledge of sustainability, and what sustainability looks like in the context of the business’s local environment and surrounding community.

It is important to find employees who share in your passion and knowledge for sustainability and certification. An ability to know that those you work with will take ownership and prioritise this shared vision is vital. 

Anne emphasises that certification and sustainability is intrinsic to the culture they have built at Domaine Bousquet, and that this is explained clearly to new applicants; usually, those who really enjoy it stay and become very passionate about the regenerative vineyard work, if they hadn’t been already. 

Thank you to Anne for joining us for this session of the Regenerative Viticulture Series! If you’d like to know more about Sectormentor, feel free to contact us at info@vidacycle.com.