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Well before
sustainability became fashionable, well before the current organic
food craze ratcheted into high gear and the USDA issued organic
product regulations, Fetzer Vineyards began developing and initiating
environmentally responsible business practices. In the mid-1980s
the Fetzer family and Paul Dolan, its director of winemaking, purchased
the Valley Oaks Ranch in Mendocino County, CA, and made the commitment
to grow all of its grapes organically. Today Fetzer grows almost
a thousand acres of certified organic grapes and have incorporated
sustainable farming practices, conservation techniques, waste management
and energy reduction programs into every aspect of the business.
Fetzer recently announced that by harvest 2010, the winery intends
to grow and purchase only organic grapes for the production of its
wines.
How it all got started has become the stuff of company lore—with
several different versions offered. One story, according to Fetzer’s
managing director Pat Voss, is that because of the Fetzer family’s
interest in organic gardening and as part of the visitor’s
center at Valley Oaks in Hopland, a five-acre organic garden was
created in the middle of the vineyards, with hundreds of different
types of fruits, vegetables and plants. The gardener at that time
complained about having to grow an organic garden in the middle
of vineyards that were being sprayed with chemicals. Another story
tells how Paul Dolan, while tasting grapes in the vineyard, discovered
that within the same row, some grapes were flat and insipid and
didn’t taste like much while others were very fruity and had
a lot character. Thus began a conversation of how healthy vines
grown in healthy soil produce quality grapes—and the connection
was made that the use of toxic chemicals was destroying the natural
organic life of the soil, and in turn was affecting the quality
of the grapes. Eventually it led to the decision to farm the vineyards
organically.
Fetzer Vineyards are certified by the California Certified Organic
Farmers, an agency authorized by the USDA, according to national
organic program regulations begun in October 2002. For California
wineries, the term “organically grown” can be used only
for wines made from vineyards certified by CCOF. Under these guidelines,
any food product using the word “organic” must be free
of genetically modified organisms, radiation, pesticides, herbicides
and synthetic fertilizers. In California, the process for a vineyard
to make the transition from conventional farming to Certified Organic
takes three years as CCOF inspectors examine the crops, the land,
the facility, the process and the paperwork.
Fetzer Vineyards need not worry about this level of scrutiny. Its
environmental initiatives extend far beyond organic grapes into
what it calls an E-3 program, which stands for the environment,
for economics and for equity. As Voss says, “You can look at
organic farming as coming from all three positions: it’s good
for the earth, it’s good for our people who are working in
the vineyards, and if we get better quality fruit by farming organically,
it’s good for our economic bottom line as well.”
An impressive number of environmental efforts have been initiated
in recent years, many of which set Fetzer apart from its competitors.
Recent news stories have reported on the destruction of wetlands
and sanctuaries caused by vineyard expansion along the Russian River.
To offset this damage, Fetzer created a sanctuary for blue herons
and has established ongoing procedures for erosion control, stream
bank mitigation and replanting natural riparian systems, in addition
to participation in annual cleanup events. It is also certified
as a “fish-friendly farmer,” which means that its farming
practices do not impact the natural fish population by either putting
silt into the water from erosion or from doing anything to the stream
bed that would impact the viability of the fish population.
Winery wastewater has been handled by a natural filtration system
created in 1998 following a three-year study by a UC Davis doctoral
candidate. Fetzer’s wastewater ponds were converted into a
natural system employing gravel and sand filters, plus a planted
reed bed. The treated water is then reused on the grapes and landscaping.
Company-wide recycling centers have been established, and by separating
and sending all bottles, cardboard, plastic, aluminum, computer
paper, antifreeze, waste oil, fluorescent tubes and glass to various
recyclers, Fetzer has saved thousands of dollars in dump fees. The
State of California has recognized these efforts with their Waste
Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) for the past seven years. In 1997
Fetzer Vineyards was recognized as one of the top ten recycling
companies in the state.
Working with Pacific Gas & Electric, the company found new ways
to reduce energy consumption. For example, a simple insulated concrete
wall was devised and built to separate cold stabilizing wine from
warm-fermenting wine, resulting in a power bill reduction of $5,000
per month. In 1996, a 10,000-square-foot administration building
was constructed in Hopland, one of the world’s first large-scale
uses of rammed-earth construction and featuring recycled doors and
timber. Photovoltaic panels were added to the building in June 1999,
supplying 75 percent of the building’s electricity. In addition,
Fetzer is the only winery in the United States to buy corks direct
from the source in Portugal and ship them in large containers, thereby
eliminating packaging.
Fetzer is constantly looking for new ways to improve its environmental
performance. As Voss admits, “In some areas we’ve picked
all the low-hanging fruit, so it gets more challenging to find ways
to improve what we do. However, there are still many areas where
we can be doing a lot more, such as better insulation on our refrigerated
tanks which are huge energy users. We purchase 100 percent certified
green power. Our water reduction efforts continue as well. Our goal
is to not send anything to the landfill, and we’re down to
the last five or six percent of our waste stream, but that is still
a challenge. We’ve always composted the skins, seeds and stems
from the grape harvest, but now we’ve started larger scale
composting programs for non-food waste, such as paper towels and
all of the things that otherwise would end up in the landfill.”
While the initial inducement to take Fetzer on its triple bottom
line path may have begun with top management, it’s since infiltrated
the company’s culture. “Our employees who are working
on the bottling line or in the winery are aware of this program,
and most of the new ideas now come from them,” says Voss. “They’re
the ones doing the work every day and seeing what can be improved
environmentally, to save money or just to make better wine. We think
it’s important to have a real education program for the grassroots
employee about why this is important and what their role is.”
Fetzer’s commitments have spread not only to its employees,
but also to its parent company, the Brown Forman Corp., one of the
largest producers in the wine and spirits business as well as a
manufacturer of diversified consumer products such as Lenox crystal
and china, Dansk ware and Hartmann luggage. Last December at an
executive meeting, the chairman of the board declared his commitment
to running a sustainable business by instituting a summer program
with Yale graduate students to examine the life cycle analysis of
Brown Forman’s production stream, its inputs and outputs.
Paul Dolan, the individual credited for being most responsible for
Fetzer’s journey toward sustainability, has recently stepped
down from his executive position at the company after nearly three
decades of leadership. In announcing his departure, Brown Forman
Wines president David Dearie said, “Paul Dolan is truly one
of the great leaders in the California wine industry.” As he
moved into the next phase of his career, Dolan wrote a book, True
to Our Roots, in which he describes his personal story as well as
that of Fetzer Vineyards. His guiding principle: “You can’t
predict the future, but you can create it.”
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