Alternative packaging pros and cons, fog water irrigates agriculture, COP27 drives news
An open letter to the UK government, hazard pay for farmworkers in Sonoma
There is a plethora of sustainable news this week - as the COP27 conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt is still ongoing (ending November 18). Using carbon offsets to bolster claims of net-zero is being downplayed in favor of reducing emissions; even as U.S. climate envoy John Kerry announced plans for companies to buy carbon credits to support countries switching out of coal power. In the UK wine world, a deep-dive on sustainability efforts from two leading UK retailers, and an open letter from WTAF (Wine Traders for Alternative Formats) to the government; were timed specifically to coincide with the climate conference. Avignonesi, in Montelpuciano plants an experimental polyculture vineyard, Tablas Creek shares soil studies it used to qualify for Regenerative Organic Certification, and Kathleen Wilcox attempts to answer the question, ‘Does Biodynamic Farming Improve Wine? On the diversity and equity front - profiles of gay and trans wine world members in Washington Blade and Wine Spectator respectively. A Sonoma winery commits to hazard pay for farmworkers; fog catchers capture water to be used in agriculture on the Canary Islands in Spain and beyond.
Greenwashing
Global: Promises by companies, banks and cities to achieve net-zero emissions often amount to little more than greenwashing, U.N. experts said in a report this week from COP27. Reuters
Regulators across the world are starting to set tougher rules around what activities can be deemed environmentally friendly. An official at Australia's corporate watchdog said it was investigating several companies over greenwashing, in which a company or group makes exaggerated claims over the environmental impact of their products or practices.
The report set out a list of recommendations that companies and other non-state actors should follow to ensure their claims are credible. For example, a company cannot claim to be net-zero if it continues to build or invest in new fossil fuel infrastructure or deforestation.
The report also dismisses the use of cheap carbon credits to offset continued emissions as a viable net-zero strategy, and recommends companies, financial institutions, cities and regions focus on outright emissions and not carbon intensity - a measure of how much carbon is emitted per unit of output.
Viticulture
Pauillac, Bodeaux: Fifth-growth Château Pédesclaux has achieved organic certification for its 2022 vintage. Decanter
The 52ha estate, owned by Jacky Lorenzetti, started organic practices back in 2012, before officially undergoing conversion in 2019.
50% of the vineyard is farmed organically and 50% biodynamically which is still being assessed for its impact on the vineyard and the wine.
Average production cost has risen 15% while the average yield loss per vintage over the past 10 years has been -10%.
A timeline of the conversion, starting in 2009 when he and his family acquired the estate to today, spanning 13 years, underscores the commitment and resources it takes to convert to organic; especially in a disease prone climate such as Bordeaux.
Montepulciano, Italy: Avignonesi Winery is planting a 10-acre plot of grape vines called La Stella (The Star) in an unusual way: it's focusing on the interdependence of nature to achieve a polyculture environment. Town & Country
The idea is to focus on biodiversity, creating a sanctuary, where vines will grow in a garden of bushes, shrubs, medicinal herbs, and fruit trees and where insects, birds, and other animals will flourish.
This project was conceived by owner and winemaker Virginie Saverys, agronomist Alessio Gorini, and a dedicated production team who all hope the vineyard will hit a sweet spot in addressing the reality of nature's interdependent systems, climate change, and soil health.
The winery is already a leader in sustainability, one of the leading biodynamic producers in Tuscany (680 acres) and a certified B-Corp.
Paso Robles, California: In their November issue Wine Business Monthly has an interview with Jordan Lonbord, viticulturist, Tablas Creek Vineyard, on their conversion to regenerative organic certification, including the soil study they undertook to qualify.
The piece looks at soil health through measures of active carbon (AC), the small portion of the organic matter that can serve as an easily available food source for soil microbes; and organic matter (OM) the carbonaceous material in the soil that is biomass or biomass-derived.
The trial took place over three years (2019-2022) evaluating the effect of tillage through carbon sequestration.
Global: For Wine Enthusiast Kathleen Wilcox attempts to answer the question, ‘Does Biodynamic Farming Improve Wine?
In the journal Organic Agriculture 147 peer-reviewed scientific studies show that when considered broadly, biodynamic farming seems to enhance soil quality and vineyard biodiversity.
Per Jasper Raats, cellar master and managing director at Longridge Wine Estate in Stellenbosch, “It used to be that when we pruned, the branches that fell would take years to break down if we just left them there,” Raats says. “Now we prune in the winter, and by summer, the soils have absorbed and broken down those branches.”
At Yangarra Estate in McLaren Vale, Australia, the soil is naturally imbued with iron, said Peter Fraser, winemaker and general manager. Biodynamic farming, he notes, which encourages deep root growth and superior water and nutrient absorption, has created a distinct “ferrous thumbprint that runs through our wines,” adding that the unifying element was not apparent previously.
As for better wine quality – that is harder to answer definitively. A long-term replicated study published in the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture in 2005 showed that when compared to an organic vineyard, a biodynamically-farmed vineyard had significantly higher levels of brix, a measure of a grape’s sugar content. It also boasted higher levels of phenols, which are compounds that affect bitterness and depth of color.
Claire Villars-Lurton, owner of Chateau Haut-Bages Libéral in Bordeaux, noted “we used to have to balance the acidity of our wines,” noting that some chaptalization—the addition of calcium carbonate to neutralize acid, or sugar to boost alcoholic content—is permitted in Bordeaux to increase alcohol levels and harmonize flavors. “For the past 15 years, we have not had to do that.”
A UCLA analysis of 74,000 reviews from wine magazines found that biodynamic farming has a “small but significant positive effect on wine quality.”
Europe: Sarah Philips McCartan reports on hybrids finding a new place in a more environmentally conscious world, where producers match grapes to sites better, and have learned how to make higher quality wines. Meininger’s Wine Business International
In 2020, research led by Andrew Walker, a geneticist and professor of viticulture and enology at UC Davis, led to the release of five new grape varieties which are genetically resistance to Pierce’s Disease.
“They change the way that you work”, says Jonathan Ducourt, whose family winery in Bordeaux produced its first vintage from hybrid grapes in 2016. “Because they are disease resistant, there is less spraying, and less stress during the growing season”, he says, referring to the fact that many hybrid varieties have good resistance to ailments like Powdery and Downey mildew.
Martin Darting, a viticulture consultant based in Germany, suggests that growers who normally spray between 10-15 times during the growing season can reduce this to just two rounds with the tractor. “This means that you save around 600 liters of fuel per hectare each year”, he estimates, also pointing out that soil compaction and labor costs will be reduced, while yields will be more consistent. This brings significant economic benefits. “There’s less spraying, less machines, less manpower”, he concludes.
Diversity & Equity
Sonoma County, California: Eco Terreno Wines & Vineyards, owned by former longtime Sebastiani Vineyards winemaker Mark Lyon, finalized an agreement to pay its dozen field workers time-and-a-half for outside work when the air-quality index, or AQI, goes above 150 — a level considered unhealthy for most people — near the north county vineyard property. North Bay Business Journal
Lyon started Eco Terreno in 2012 while still at Sebastiani, where he had been making wines since 1985. It has 103 acres planted with vines, certified Biodynamic by the Demeter Association and organic by CCOF in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
“My goal is trying to get everybody at the vineyard up to $25 (an hour) and have that be a minimum wage for full-time employees,” Rob Izzo, GM said.
The company already covers 100% of health care premiums for full-time vineyard workers and spouses.
Lyon is opening Lyon & Swan Food and Debauchery, its tasting room and restaurant in San Francisco. It will be hard for Lyon & Swan to match living wages in San Francisco, Izzo said. Single workers there would have to make $30.81 an hour with no kids, up to $99.53 for three children, according to MIT’s metrics.
Izzo would not disclose the San Francisco restaurant wage scales. But he did point to as a target the $22-an-hour minimum goal for fast-food workers in a newly signed state law on reforming pay and working conditions for such employees.
US: Washington Blade profiles William Ferguson who runs Queer Wino, a wine sales and education website.
With Queer Wino, his aim is to raise awareness of the unique issues LGBTQ people face in the wine industry and to raise their profile.
When buying wine, he endeavors to focus on smaller producers, unknown regions, and wines made by anyone outside of cis, straight, white men.
Ferguson’s most impactful work began in 2020, when he launched a series titled, “Pride in Wine,” which highlights LGBTQ “wine nerds and professionals.” Thus far, the series has profiled wine educators, vineyard managers, wine label owners, and more. The series is available on his website.
Washington State: The Seattle Times Pacific Northwest Magazine profiles three women leading the charge in the state’s wine scene.
Despite recently published pieces noting the dearth of women winemakers compared to other states, this article notes that their largest producer, St. Michelle Wine Estates, has put women in charge of winemaking at five of their 11 largest brands.
Profiles include: Devyani Isabel Gupta, the 29-year-old head winemaker for Valdemar Estates in Walla Walla; viticulturist Sadie Drury, general manager of North Slope Management and vineyard manager of historic Seven Hills Vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley; and Rebecca De Kleine, general manager and director of winemaking for the colossal Four Feathers Wine Services in Prosser.
South Africa: Tim Atkin MW looks at a new generation of black people in South Africa’s wine industry – and the strides they are making to overcome past stigmas. Decanter
There are currently about 60 winemakers and assistant winemakers of color in the Cape out of a total of 940.
Many of these winemakers have been through the Cape Winemakers Guild’s Protégé Programme, launched in 2006. The three-year paid internship aims to ‘cultivate the next generation of award-winning winemakers, viticulturists and future policymakers through mentorship and self- empowerment’, says former Guild chair Andrea Mullineux. To date, 31 protégés have completed the program and 18 are employed in leading winemaker roles or have their own projects.
Until comparatively recently, black-owned brands were perceived as being of ‘substandard quality’, according to Denise Stubbs of Thokozani. There were certainly wines that demonstrated otherwise, not least from the now defunct Thandi Wine Estate, which became the first certified Fairtrade wine brand in the world in 2003 and enjoyed a strong consumer following overseas.
Atkin profiles Rüdger van Wyk (Stark-Condé), Clayton Christians (Cape Classics), Ricardo Cloete (Bellingham Wines), Mahalia Kotjane (Lievland), Thornton Pillay (The Drift), Wade Sander (Brunia Wines), Kiara Scott (Brookdale Estate), Morgan Steyn (De Grendel) and Banele Vakele (Tembela Wines).
Other young black winemakers and entrepreneurs who are making names for themselves include Joe Beziek (Cloof), Nongcebo ‘Noni’ Langa (Delheim), Arlene Mains (Vilafonté), Andiswa Mapheleba (Boschendal), Berene Sauls (Tesselaarsdal) and Natasha Williams (Bosman and Lelie van Saron).
Portland, Oregon: Wine Spectator interviews Vivianne Kennedy, the winemaker and owner of RAM Cellars in Oregon, and one of the few prominent transgender members of the wine industry.
She notes some lost relationships due to her being visibly queer, but is positive of the long-term benefits, “for every account that I have lost because I am a visibly and outspoken transgender woman, I have had the time to go and talk to folks who are better partners to work with.”
She has a second label that is used to do fundraising for queer communities - the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, specifically in support of its Name Change Project initiative.
Bristol, England: Circumstance Distillery, co-founded by Liam Hirt and Danny Walker has launched as female only work experience and intern program. The Buyer
The successful candidate will get hands on experience across all aspects of a small working distillery. They will shadow a variety of roles across the business to get a full picture of the job opportunities available. One section of this is all about specific courses and qualifications available if they wish to continue the route to become a distiller.
No experience is needed, interested candidates can visit their website and send them an email. They are also a certified B Corp.
Marketing
San Francisco, California: The 2023 California Green Medal Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership Awards are open. Press release via Wine Business
Vineyards and wineries that participate in a sustainability program in California are eligible to apply in four award categories: Leader, Environment, Community and Business, recognizing outstanding achievement in sustainability. Learn more and apply at greenmedal.org
Napa, California: Neal Family Vineyards, based in Howell Mountain has achieved Regenerative Organic Certified® as recognized by the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA). Press release via Wine Business
The winery is also certified organic by CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) and biodynamic.
Packaging
The letter, published November 7 to coincide with COP27, calls for “real change in our industry and less reliance on heavy glass bottles”.
Harpers has published the full letter, which specifies “Viable alternative formats include boxed wine, canned wine, kegs, returnable glass bottles, paper bottles and pouches, all of which come with vastly reduced carbon footprints as well as a variety of other benefits.”
In a well-timed piece, Robert Joseph plays devil’s advocate for wineries on this topic in Meininger’s Wine Business International – which are faced with imperfect choices in a sometimes-hostile environment where they still have to sell their wines to remain viable. Switch to lighter glass, say the wine media. Give us commercially appealing packaging say the customers.
Global: Decanter has a run-down of alternative wine packaging, including an excellent chart that compares bag-in-box (BIB), cans, plastic bottles, pouches, paper bottles and cartons that covers each’s pros and cons.
There is no perfectly sustainable packaging; while for example BIB is the lowest emitter of CO2 during the manufacturing process (according to a joint study from Systembolaget, Vinmonopolet, Alko) it is difficult to recycle, the cardboard box needs to be separated from the plastic lining – which is not recyclable in many areas.
Scotland: More than 500 drinks producers and hospitality operators have signed an open letter calling for the Scottish Government to pause and revise the Deposit Return Scheme, which has not yet been implemented. The Drinks Business
Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), due to come into force in August 2023 will require consumers to pay an extra 20p (US$0.23) when buying drinks in cans and bottles, which will be refunded when the empty containers are returned for recycling.
The aim of the DRS is to reduce littering and encourage recycling, and the Scottish Government aims to achieve a 90% collection rate for materials in scope by 2025.
Sustainability
Bordeaux France: Liz Thatch, MW looks at how bee and bat populations are being studied in CIVB-funded research experiments at two wineries to explore their role in biodiversity. Forbes
Vignobles Arbo has studied the impact of bats on their vineyards, findings include verification that bats reduce the number of predatory insects that can harm the grapes, and therefore reduce the need for pesticides.
Additionally, vineyards that have larger bat populations reduce perforations of the grape bunches and leaves by 14 to 50%. All of this assists in reducing the use of agri-chemicals and tractor passes, contributing towards a lower carbon footprint.
UK: Jancisrobinson.com has republished a piece that is free to all to read to coincide with COP27 that looks at sustainability efforts in detail from the UK’s two biggest online retailers - The Wine Society (TWS) and Laithwaite's.
TWS, a 150-year old membership co-op has been more transparent about their efforts, with a dedicated area on their site, perhaps due to their organizational structure; while Laithwaite's has been more quiet about their efforts, until they tackle Scope 3 emissions.
Both have worked with consultancies to measure carbon emissions throughout their supply chains; both have sustainability directors on staff.
TWS targets for reducing carbon emissions are:
By end of 2022: Calculate our carbon footprint, set science-based reduction targets and develop a road map to reach net zero by 2040, across our business and supply chain.
By end of 2024: Be carbon neutral, by investing in natural ways for vineyards to sequester more carbon. (Prior to this, they will publish their full carbon footprint, targets and reduction road map in spring 2023, for transparency and accountability.)
By end of 2028: Be zero-emissions from the operations we own (vans, warehouses, office).
By 2040: Be net zero across our business and supply chain.
TWS are planning to use insetting, internal offsetting that benefits their own supply chain. As sustainability director De Ville explains “rather than selecting a recognized offsetting scheme such as those certified by Gold Standard and paying into that to get certified, we would take the equivalent amount of money (or likely higher) and invest it in one or more projects in our supply chain that will sequester enough carbon over time to offset our emissions.”
Laithwaite’s says they are aiming to halve Scope 1 and 2 emissions and reduce Scope 3 by 25% (compared with a 2020/21 base year) by 2030.
But also points out that most of the company's emissions sit within Scope 3. To speed up the transition, they want to increase collaboration with suppliers. They hosted their first global Supplier Sustainability Conference, focused on carbon emissions in 2021.
Boston, Massachusetts: Researchers have grown a farm of rooftop vegetables bathed in the CO2-rich exhaust air from city buildings—a somewhat dystopian idea which nevertheless boosted plant growth by an incredible 400%. Anthropecene
From 2018-2019, Sarabeth Buckley, plant scientist at the University of Cambridge and lead author on the study, started their experiment on the roof of the Boston University campus.
At each of the rooftop vents, the researchers planted rows of spinach and corn. Their vegetable patch was laid out in such a way that some plants were beside vents that emitted air from inside the building, while others were planted beside control vents that emitted regular atmospheric air.
They found that when classes were in session, CO2 levels spiked noticeably—reaching above the recommended 1000 parts per million (ppm) for building interiors for 37% of the time that the classes were in session. This was also well above the 800 ppm of CO2 that plants need to receive a growth boost—so on the rooftop, this resulted in huge growth spurts for the veg.
This was most notable for the spinach, whose biomass increased fourfold beside CO2-emitting vents. Even corn, despite being less sensitive to the growth boost of CO2, was between 2 and 3 times larger, and also greener, when planted beside the exhaust vents compared to the control vents.
Oakland, California: Esther Mobley profiles Onye Ahanotu, owner of startup Ikenga Wines, producing ‘palm’ wines based on a traditional drink in West Africa and other parts of the world. The San Francisco Chronicle
Palm wine is made from freshly tapped oil palm or date palm trees in the mornings, cutting open their fruit and attaching a vessel to collect the sap. The liquid is often consumed the same day, within a close radius of its collection. It ferments rapidly, often consumed at 4-5% abv.
He wanted to share its taste with a broader audience but soon realized that producing it on a commercial scale would have devastating environmental impacts, akin to the massive deforestation caused by the palm oil industry.
Instead, he uses processed plant materials that approximate the molecular composition of real palm, then tweaks them by adding sugars, acids, microbes and yeast.
Ahanotu sees himself as part of the same forward-thinking, biodesigned food movement that claims plant-based meat companies like Impossible Foods.
Natural Resources
La Vega. Spain: A look at how farmers, backed by researchers are using fog-collection machines to irrigate their farms; particularly in traditionally fog-prone areas like the Canary Islands. The Christian Science Monitor
Since 2018, the Pérezs have relied solely on fog water to irrigate their 3.7 acres of farmland – which includes lemon and plum trees, artichoke plants, and 50 chickens – when rain is in short supply in the summer months.
On a good day, the couple’s home-made 435-yard-long wall of collectors – vertical U-shaped nets cemented into the ground by metal poles – can harvest 475 gallons of water. The suspended fog droplets fall from the nets and flow through 220 yards of black tubing, which snake down the back of their property into a 95,000-gallon storage tank that resembles a giant waterbed.
The first documented experiments into fog as an alternative water resource can be traced to South Africa in the early 1900s. In 1963, Chilean physicist Carlos Espinosa’s invention of “mist traps” were patented and offered to UNESCO for free use around the world.
Apart from the initial materials and building costs, fog collection is a low-energy operation, whose structures, like netting, can blend more seamlessly into natural environments than wind turbines or solar panels. Upkeep involves merely clearing away overgrown plants and cleaning the filters.
“Fog collecting doesn’t consume any energy and doesn’t affect any other natural resources,” says Ricardo Gil, a technical architect in Tenerife who runs the Nieblagua company. He has installed around 100 fog collectors across the Canary Islands, mainland Spain, and Portugal. “It also takes the pressure off extracting water from aquifers or desalinating ocean water.”
Carbon Emissions
The Netherlands: File this under super cool – a team of undergraduate students from Eindhoven University of Technology have created what they believe to be the world's first carbon negative vehicle. CNET
ZEM, or Zero Emission Mobility, is a prototype vehicle with a pair of carbon capture devices behind the front grill, ZEM absorbs C02 as it drives.
Students say it can collect about 4.5 pounds of carbon for every 20,000 miles driven (a mature tree captures about 48 pounds of carbon, on average per year). Solar panels on the roof and hood provide eight lithium batteries with about 15% of ZEM's power.
The team implemented bi-directional charging technology, so ZEM could be used as a generator to power a home's appliances.
The students designed the vehicle to be sustainable through its entire lifecycle. The body is 3D-printed from recycled plastics, which can be shredded and reused at the end of the car's life. The interior is made from pineapples, while the dash came from recycled cooking oils.