Washington's State Non-Profit Vital Wines
The rising popularity of aluminum wine bottles, Champagne's labor compliance program
A look at how Washington state’, nonprofit winery Vital Wines donates 100% of its net profits to improving healthcare access for vineyard workers, relying on volunteer labor and vendor donations. Champagne’s labor compliance program, launched at harvest last year, uses the VitiArgos platform to address labor transparency. Aluminum bottles are taking off, but still cost more than glass or paper, and may see costs rise due to tariffs.
Diversity & Equity
Washington State: Roger Morris looks at Vital Wines, powered entirely by volunteers, with 100% of its net profits going towards improving healthcare access for vineyard workers and their families. The Drinks Business
Founded in 2016 by Ashley Trout, Vital has now sold more than 3,300 cases of these ‘partnership wines’ at a net profit of $97,000.
This year Vital has visited 10 vineyards and has “validated healthcare needs” of more than 125 vineyard workers.
Almost all production costs – “from fruit to coopers to bottlers” – is donated by the vendors.
Overhead and salaries for its employees are covered by “generous donations and grants” from businesses and individuals.
Income from the tasting room also generates cash, which is ploughed back into the non-profit business model.
Nashville, Tennessee: TN Nursery, a provider of native plants and eco-friendly landscaping solutions, is offering its annual $1,000 "Green Scholarship" to support students passionate about sustainability, environmental science, and the green industry. Press release via Wine Business
Open to all U.S. college and university students, the scholarship is designed to encourage the next generation of environmental leaders.
Allison Luvera and Lauren De Niro Pipher, cofounders of the wine brand Juliet, spearheaded the effort.
The letter was signed by founders in food and beverage like Aishwarya Iyer of olive oil brand Brightland and Hannah Cheng of dumpling brand Mimi Cheng’s; in beauty and personal care like Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton of Chillhouse and the cofounders of Dune Suncare; in apparel like Rebecca Minkoff and the cofounders of the Meghan Markle-backed Cesta Collective.
Juliet, while mostly produced in the U.S., has no viable domestic supplier for a key packaging component and expects costs to rise $200,000 annually. A home cleaning brand says its packaging costs would rise 80%.
Climate Change
Europe: Miquel Hudin recaps the recent inaugural Mediterranean Wine Symposium. Hudin
A new initiative by the Perelada winery in Empordà, Catalunya the goal is to serve as a bridge and connect all these points in a vast sea that will need to work together for the future – largely to respond to climate change.
Borja Suqué Mateu, the fifth generation of his family to run the winery opened the conference and noted “We can easily see the effects of Climate Change and the various threats we face making wine in our regions. This growth of winemaking in England has come at the cost of the Mediterranean and we clearly need to get in front of our issues at hand.”
Labor Regulations
Champagne, France: The Drinks Business looks at the roll out of “Together for the Champagne Harvest”.
This initiative, The Comité Champagne says, aims to set out clear expectations for both employers and service providers, ensuring that recruitment, working conditions, health and safety, and accommodation are addressed in a coordinated and transparent way.
The group rolled out the program to address disastrously loose labor practices, particularly with third party contractors, several seasonal workers died in the harvest of 2023 in the region.
A central element is VitiArgos, a digital platform to assist producers in evaluating the compliance of third-party contractors.
“It reminds employers of the main regulations to follow so they can question and reassure themselves as to the compliance of their practices,” the Comité explains. “It enables employers to check their service providers’ registration and their level of commitment before signing a contract.”
By harvest time, 145 service providers had registered on VitiArgos, collectively representing around 21,000 seasonal workers.
Over 6,000 consultations of online labor guidance were recorded, and a dedicated France Travail unit of 10 staff helped fill 75% of harvest roles via a streamlined, centralized system.
“Anyone found guilty or not following the rules will be heavily investigated by the relevant authorities,” the spokesperson noted. “Comité Champagne will also join as a civil party, in cases that lead to legal action.”
Packaging
Global: A look at the rising popularity of aluminum wine bottles, and how it may be tempered by steel and aluminum tariffs. The Drinks Business
Two recent releases - Vinca with two organic expressions, and Aldi’s own-label The Costellore Pinot Grigio – illustrate the benefits and risks.
Vinca says, the material is “infinitely recyclable” without impacting the quality of the aluminum. Every gram of its bottle is made from recycled aluminum.
They are also dramatically lighter than glass (Vinca is 68 grams, while Aldi’s is 95g), a boon for consumer portability, reduced carbon emissions, and shipping savings.
Aluminum cools faster than glass because it has a higher thermal conductivity, when an aluminum bottle is placed in a cold environment, the heat from the liquid inside is quickly drawn away by the material, causing the liquid to cool faster. Conversely, it can also warm faster in hot environments, like out in the sun.
Mark Lansley, CEO of Broadland Drinks, notes “Glass bottles are currently the lowest price with the highest demand,” he explains. “Paper and aluminum bottles are currently more expensive to make and fill, but they do have a lower carbon footprint than glass. As demand and volume rise for paper and aluminum bottles, and as sustainability inevitably becomes more important over the long term, we anticipate cost price differentials to narrow.”
Tariffs may also impact aluminum supply and cost, the bottles come from Spain and China, Trump’s stance on metals (raising the tax on aluminum and aluminum derivatives to 25% from 12 March 2025) could mean aluminum becomes increasingly hard to get hold of across the globe.
Global: Coca-Cola’s plastic use continues to grow - despite a clear opportunity to change, says international ocean advocacy organization Oceana. Beverage Daily
Per Oceana, Coca-Cola’s plastic use is set to increase 40% 2018-2030; the company announced it was walking away from its goal to make 25% of its packaging reuseable.
Instead it said it would place more focus on recycled content and increasing collection of its single use packaging.
A 60-second hero ad stars Peggy, a hairless pug-and-Chinese-crested mix best known for her role as Dogpool in Deadpool & Wolverine.
The video uses slow-mo shots of her unique (lovably hideous) physical attributes intercut with phrases like “full bodied,” “striking nose,” and “elegant finish.”
Herbicide Use
Partnering with EHN.org, the environmental wellness blog, the oat milks were tested by a U.S.-Environmental-Protection-Agency-certified lab for glyphosate and heavy metals.
They found traces of glyphosate and arsenic in MALK Organic Oat Milk at 12 parts per billion, and glyphosate in Silk Extra Creamy Oatmilk at 14 parts per billion.
Glyphosate has been found in a variety of oat products, including oat meals and cereals, as well as some lentils and barleys. Some experts believe late season glyphosate spraying — which hastens the drying out process for crops in the field — is the culprit.
Marketing
Asia: ProWine and db Asia partner on the inaugural Asia Green Awards. The Drinks Business
The new program is dedicated to celebrating companies and individuals in the beer, wine and spirits industries with a presence in Asia that are putting a green agenda at the heart of their business.
Deadline for entries is 21 April 2025. Winners of the Asia Green Awards will be announced at ProWine Hong Kong.
Oregon: A new generation of Oregon winegrowers is spawning a grass roots, community oriented organic winegrowing movement. Wine Business
The state’s first ever organically farmed wine event, the Organically Grown Wine Conference, was late March at Alexana Winery in the Dundee Hills AVA.
The group started in 2022 as a trade group where only professional viticulturists and vineyard managers were allowed to attend – allowing space for open, honest information sharing.
Working with Amy Wong, director of the Oregon Organic Coalition, the group was able to tap into modest USDA funding from the NRCS Oregon’s Organic Transition Initiative along with additional funds from private sponsors.
The full program featured a consumer wine tasting event, educational demonstrations outside, and an all-star panel, moderated by wine communicator Elaine Chukan Brown.
Transportation
Global: The United States has withdrawn from talks in London looking at advancing decarbonization in the shipping sector and Washington will consider "reciprocal measures" to offset any fees charged to U.S. ships, according to a diplomatic note seen by Reuters.
An initial proposal by a bloc of countries including the European Union, which was submitted to the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization (IMO), had sought to reach agreement for the world’s first carbon levy for shipping on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Carbon Credits
Global: Microsoft announced it is buying 3.7 million metric tons of carbon removal credits from CO280, a project developer that works with pulp and paper mills. TechCrunch
The purchase covers 12 years of emissions from CO280’s first carbon capture project at a mill on the Gulf Coast.
CO280 expects the facility to start capturing CO2 in 2028.
Micrrosoft generated 17.1 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2023.
They have been buying large amounts of renewable power, to tackle what it can’t replace with renewables, it has been inking deals that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to offset what it can’t eliminate.
The capture technology is based on the widely used amine process, and it will be attached to a large paper mill’s recovery boiler, which helps recycle various chemicals for reuse.
The boiler also releases a lot of carbon that was locked up in the wood itself. Normally, the wood-locked carbon would be dumped into the atmosphere. But by drawing CO2 from this step in the process, the paper mill will be effectively removing carbon from the atmosphere by way of photosynthesis.
Sustainability
Jerez, Spain: González Byass, the leading sherry producer, has invested €3.1 million into environmental projects during the company’s 2023-24 fiscal year (September 2023 – August 2024). Harpers
68% of its vineyards are now certified sustainable, revealed as part of its 2023-2024 Sustainability Report.
Five of the Jerez producer’s wineries have now achieved the Sustainable Wineries for Climate Protection (SWfCP) accreditation, González Byass has also set the target for a 55% reduction in CO₂emissions (compared to 2019) by 2030.
Australia & New Zealand: Hill-Smith Family Estates, owner of 22 wine brands across its estates in Australia and New Zealand including Oxford Landing and Jansz Tasmania, has announced a 38% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since 2011. Harpers
Per their 2024 Annual Sustainability Report, they exceeded its renewable energy target, from its own solar installations, meaning 21% of its operating energy is supplied from this source.
California: Club Oneologique published an excerpt from Elaine Chukan Brown’s latest book The Wines of California.
The short extract explores the cultural and political forces that birthed California’s organic wine movement.
The 1960s counter-culture movement and backlash from the Vietnam war helped shape the young converts who started the movement including English master gardener Alan Chadwick, and his apprentices and former students Alan York, Katrina Van Lente, and Jonathan Frey.
Interestingly organic farming was not yet understood as reasonable agriculture. The FDA warned that organic foods were likely full of parasites, and the Secretary of Agriculture warned organic farming would lead to mass starvation.
While working with Fetzer, York befriended and guided Paul Dolan, then winemaker and eventually president of Fetzer. Dolan went on to help expand production at Fetzer, demonstrating organic farming could succeed at scale.
Dolan’s influence on California viticulture was immense. He helped develop the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing, which became the basis for a statewide certification, and establish the Regenerative Organics Alliance.
Calistoga, CA: For SommJournal Stacy Briscoe spotlights Frank Family Vineyards’ sustainability practices.
The winery now owned by Treasury Wine Estates, holds multiple certifications: California Sustainable Vineyard & Winery, Fish Friendly Farming and Napa Green.
They are employing a precision irrigation system called Lumo, which uses automatic valves and a flow meter to help precisely control irrigation and spot leaks quickly.
Agriculture
Illinois: Rotating cereal rye and winter wheat into fields of corn and soy reduces fertilizer loss by 50% in Illinois, without impacting overall yields. Anthropocene Magazine
These results come from a new study that brings us closer to sustainable intensification in the US Corn Belt, its researchers say.
The study followed one set of conventional farms, where corn and soybeans are grown on a two-year rotational basis. These farms were a control.
An experimental plot of soybean and corn were variously interchanged with cereal rye and winter wheat at different points over a three-year period.
The experiment ran for nine years, from 2015 to 2023.
According to the study, the more diverse three-year rotation meant the soil was covered with either crops or leftover biomass for 30 out of the 36 months, compared to just 10 out of 24 months in the two-year rotation.
It’s thought that the more constant coverage, presence of roots in the soil, and higher quantities of biomass and carbon work together to “immobilize” the nitrate and stop it seeping out of the soil.
The three-year rotation also led to an earthworm boom, which can help increase drainage and make nutrients more available in soils.