Next time you open a bottle of merlot or chardonnay, be sure to thank the vintner. And you might want to toast the worms, as well.

Everyday earthworms are the latest solution to a thorny problem that most wine drinkers never consider: wastewater disposal.

Producing a single glass of California wine may require as much as 14 gallons of water. Much of that water is used to clean the winery and bottling equipment after processing grapes. At most wineries, the waste water is moved through a series of aeration ponds, where air is pumped through the water for several weeks while bacteria break down contaminants.

Now a Chilean company, BioFiltro, offers an alternative: spraying the wastewater into giant bins filled with earthworms. Fetzer Vineyards, located in California`s Mendocino County, has signed on to become the first American winery to use the process to treat 100% of its wastewater.

The industrious worms are expected to clean the water just as well but in only four hours. They require almost no electricity, and the only byproduct is worm excrement – also known as castings – which can be returned to the vineyard as a nutritious fertilizer.

`This system is using nature. It`s using worms and microbes to treat all of our winery wastewater,` says Josh Prigge, director of regenerative development at Fetzer.

BioFiltro has begin to install its system at Fetzer, which expects to have it fully operational later this year, in time for the 2016 grape harvest. Fetzer and BioFiltro declined to disclose the system`s cost.

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