“You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is the principle behind the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance’s (CSWA) new initiative to integrate performance metrics into its Sustainable Winegrowing Program (SWP). Performance metrics, the measurable outcomes of business practices, are already used by growers and vintners to measure economic success such as farming costs per acre/ton of grapes and production cost per bottle/case of wine. With CSWA’s metrics project, growers and vintners will be provided with tools to measure, manage and track their use of natural resources. It will also help quantify performance, optimize operations and cut costs to increase sustainable practices.
CSWA’s initial set of metrics includes water and energy use in vineyards and wineries, greenhouse gas emissions in vineyards and wineries, and nitrogen use in vineyards. CSWA is developing an online Performance Metrics Sustainability Portal to help growers and vintners confidentially calculate, track and store their metrics data and access associated educational information. Participants will be able to compare their natural resource use from year to year and relate measurable outcomes to changed practices. The new portal will be part of CSWA’s existing free online system. Ultimately, CSWA will use compiled data to determine industry averages for water, energy and nitrogen use, with additional metrics to come. Pilot workshops for calculating metrics online will be available in spring 2012.
Benefits of performance metrics
By tying measurable performance outcomes to practices, performance metrics help growers and vintners prioritize vineyard or winery plans for greatest operational efficiency; sort real from perceived outcomes and manage resources more efficiently; meet increasing market demand for information about how products are made and their impacts; and take advantage of future financial incentives such as cap and trade and alternative pricing associated with energy and water efficiency
Performance metrics also help the overall California wine community convey accurate information about sustainability efforts in public policy and market realms; strengthen the credibility of the Sustainable Winegrowing Program model with regulators, policymakers, retailers and consumers; and enhance its global leadership position in sustainable agriculture and production by remaining on the leading edge of sustainability.
Gravity Flow and Natural Gas Use
When vineyard 29 proprietors Chuck and Anne McMinn designed their Napa Valley winery, they had two goals in mind: to minimize the environmental impact of wine production, and to install systems that would ensure the highest quality of wine.
Partially tucked into a carved out hillside, the winery’s caves, cellars, offices and hospitality spaces take advantage of natural lighting, ventilation and cooling, thus minimizing the use of energy-intensive heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment. When required, HVAC and lighting systems are controlled by motion sensors.
A gravity-feed system reduces the use of pumps and motors for conveying wine between tanks and barrels. Avoiding pumps also improves quality, as Chuck McMinn explains, “We can start the fermentation process with whole berries…which forces the yeast to work through the skins…extracting more colors and flavors.”
An innovative cogeneration system creates electricity from natural gas and uses the by-product heat for heating and cooling purposes. This efficient use of fuel (80 percent versus 30 percent efficiency of utility or “grid” power) considerably reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Water use drops 42 percent since 2007
Use of a performance metrics system at Simi Winery in Healdsburg has resulted in dramatic savings in conserving water as well as environmental and economic benefits. “We’ve been tracking key performance indicators for water since 2007,” says John Pritchard, Simi’s director of operations. “Since then, our liters of water used per liters of wine-produced has dropped from 5.2 to 3.”
With a corporate social responsibility program in place since its 1945 founding, Constellation Brands—Simi’s parent—has always looked for ways to improve the environment and minimize the impact of its winery sites.
“We take weekly water readings and compare them to a norm, investigating abnormal readings or discrepancies,” says Pritchard, who notes that the year Simi became a certified Sonoma County Green Business, the winery reduced its water use by 16.4 percent though it crushed 13.2 percent more tonnage. “We’ve attained our goal to cut our water use by 5 percent every year since 2008.”
In addition to installing water-saving barrel washing systems, flow meters and spray nozzles at water stations and switching to chlorine dioxide as an alternative cleaning technology, Simi built a water treatment plant with an anaerobic digester that reduces its wastewater costs and the load on Healdsburg’s water treatment system. “We’ve been able to save nearly $600,000 by treating our own wastewater. By the end of this fiscal year, the bio-digester we installed in 2008 will have paid for itself.”
Water conservation tips
Simi’s water conservation efforts include staff education with water use bulletins posted weekly (written in layman’s terms, such as 20,000 gallons is the equivalent of 667 bathtubs of water). Here are some other water conservation tips from CSWA’s Sustainable Winegrowing workbook:
• Install meters on wells, then monitor and record water use regularly;
• Use pond process water for vineyard and/or landscaping irrigation;
• Cover (or move inside) crush and press operations to eliminate “baking” of waste material on equipment;
• Consider installing an ozone system for winery equipment cleaning and sanitation;
• Monitor water used to wash and soak barrels and set goals to reduce water use;
• Monitor water use in cellar and consider alternative cleaning technologies;
• Practice deficit irrigation in the vineyard; and
• Use drought tolerant plants in landscaping.
Wine Institute is the voice for California wine, representing more than 1,000 wineries and affiliated businesses from throughout the state. As the largest advocacy and public policy association for California wine and the only group representing the industry at the state, federal and international levels, Wine Institute’s officers, board of directors and professional staff work to create an environment where the wine community can flourish and contribute in a positive fashion to our nation, state and local communities. Visit www.wineinstituite.org to find out more about WI’s initiatives, industry issues and news, membership services and benefits and becoming a member of Wine Institute.
