Viñedos Organicos Emiliana is dedicated to producing environmentally responsible, organic and biodynamic wines. The man at the helm of the project, which is now backed by Concha y Toro, is Alvaro Espinoza, former winemaker with Carmen. After a six month sabbatical working with Mexican vineyard workers in California, Espinoza’s return to Chile and its environmentally unfriendly, industrial scale viticulture came as something of a shock. He left Carmen in 2000 to work for V.O.E. Three farms, totalling 240 hectares in the regions of Maipo, Casablanca and Colchagua, were selected to form the basis of this serious, commercial project. Plans are afoot to expand into Elqui and Bio Bio. Espinoza’s aim is to increase the biodiversity of the farms with cover cropping, biological corridors and by encouraging insects in the vineyards. Natural composting is used as well as alternative pest management work with compost teas and biological products such as Bacillus subtilis and Trichoderma (a fungus that has antibotrytis and antioidium action.)