Organic & Sustainable Wine Production Expanding Rapidly in California

Grapes get greener

By Sarah Berkley Sonoma Index-Tribune (California)

(Editor's note: This is first in a series of articles outlining sustainable
grape growing and winemaking in Sonoma Valley and looking at the industry
movement as a whole.)

01/20/04 - If Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, existed these days he very
well might spend his days stirring organic compost instead of basking in
fountains of merlot.

Environmentally and socially responsible grape growing and winemaking is
nothing new in the Valley, but what was once labeled a trend seems poised to
turn into an industry standard.

Often billed as the new buzz-word in the wine business, "sustainability" is
defined as a holistic approach to growing and food production that respects
the environment, the ecosystem and even society. "Organic" is a term given
to environmentally friendly methods that use no chemicals or pesticides.

A broad spectrum of sustainable practices can be found across Sonoma Valley;
from completely natural models such as Coturri and Benziger to wineries
weaning themselves off of conventional methods. And as growers and vintners
will attest, with each level come unique challenges and benefits.

Already a protector of 90 acres of sensitive wetlands, Viansa Winery has
long boasted a natural anti-pest team of bats, barn owls and insectaries to
keep its bug populations under control. The winery is furthering its
adoption of sustainable growing methods, and 2003 hailed Viansa's first full
year using organic fungicide and the elimination of all herbicides.

"It would be hypocritical for us to say we support the wetlands and then be
next door dumping toxins," said Winemaker Derek Irwin.

Irwin said the winery is researching other areas and systems that could be
overhauled in the name of energy efficiency and less pollution, but he
admits the costs to transition to organic methods - both in money and labor
- will be exhaustive.

"Just a small percent of change can have a huge economic impact on farmers
because margins are so slim," Irwin said. He has consulted with third-party
organic certifiers, and to switch to an organic system, "You're looking at a
10 to 15 percent increase in cost the first three to four years." Changing
the whole mindset of growers and retraining the vines themselves is another
formidable feat, he added.

Founded in 1979, Coturri Winery in Glen Ellen boasts 370 acres of
organically certified vines. It has long been considered one of the local
vanguards of environmentally and socially conscious winemaking.

But as winemaker Tony Coturri explained, organically certified wines face a
whole different challenge from the sustainable growing pains Viansa might
grapple with. Winemakers cannot add sulfites to organically certified wine,
and, possibly due to a consumer fear of the unknown, there exists a very
small market for organic wines in the United States. Coturri said that
putting a wine in the organic section of a wine shop may well invoke "the
kiss of death" from a consumer. An intense focus for Coturri is how to
effectively reach out to buyers who appreciate organic vintages.

Despite these varying vantage points, the industry as a whole is uniting as
never before under a self-regulating sustainable conscience. It's
fundamentally changing the local landscape at a faster pace, not just by the
rows of bell bean cover crops suddenly sprouting up between the Valley's
vines. Such popular plants are known to invigorate the soil with nitrogen,
promote beneficial micro-organisms and prevent soil erosion.

California produces more than 90 percent of the total U.S. wine production,
and the burgeoning sustainability movement is partly a response to new
local, national and global issues - including population growth, the need to
conserve resources and a heightened public interest in how food is produced
- according to Gladys Horiuchi, communications manager for the Wine
Institute, a San Francisco-based policy group.

"A lot of (the sustainability movement) has been driven by the fact that the
California population is growing by half a million people each year," said
Horiuchi.

Urban communities are brushing shoulders more often with agricultural
operations. Farmers must be sensitive to how their practices affect their
neighbors, said Horiuchi. And with the state's increased demand on water and
energy, "It simply makes good business sense to use our natural resources
wisely," she said.

Also playing a role, Horiuchi said, are "consumer trends -people simply
being interested in how products are made." These are especially prevalent
in export markets such Japan and Europe, she added.

Although there is still little demand for organic wine in the United States,
new Food and Drug Administration regulations on organic food have drawn a
profusion of organically certified products into the mainstream grocery
market. Chemical-free foods - and the natural production methods that
accompany them - are moving toward the foreground of the consumers'
collective consciousness.

In 2003 the institute, along with the California Association of Winegrape
Growers, released a "Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices" with a
490-page voluntary self-assessment workbook covering everything from pest
management to wine quality to water conservation to environmental
stewardship. This tool allows growers and vintners to gauge how they are
doing, and then to design and implement their own action plans. It also lets
researchers use that data to track the industry's overall progress. Horiuchi
said that organizers expected only 10 percent participation in the first
year. Since the workbook's introduction last year, 25 percent of vineyard
acreage in California and 50 percent of the state's wine production has been
assessed through its evaluation process.

The project received a $280,000 grant from the California Department of Food
and Agriculture for the implementation of the sustainability code and to pay
for informational workshops across the state.

Nick Frey, executive director for the Sonoma County Grape Growers Alliance
(SCGGA), said many growers have already been applying environmentally and
socially responsible methods. As an example he mentioned the high awareness
of water conservation.

"Most everybody is either dry land or drip irrigation. There is a tremendous
amount of movement toward deficit irrigation."

Some studies show this trend toward sustainability took root years ago;
research at the University of California at Davis reveals that between 1993
and 2000 the cumulative use-intensity for pesticides declined by 84 percent
in Napa County and 46 percent in Sonoma County. Frey said the new code
offers the industry an opportunity to benchmark its progress - publicly.

"A few years ago criticism about grape growing (was) terrible - it shone a
light on things. People are (now) taking proactive steps to demonstrate what
they are doing with the code of sustainable wine growing," Frey said.

Since the code and workbook's spring 2003 launch, Frey said that more than
350 Sonoma County growers and wineries have come through the SCGGA's
self-assessment workshops, which are held across the county and often hosted
by various appellation groups. Of those 350 participants, 246 have turned in
their assessments.

Topics in the workbook are rated in categories from one to four, with four
being the highest level of sustainability.

"If you look at the scores, the county parallels the state (average) very
closely," Frey said.

Sonoma County vineyards and wineries rank high - in the range of three - for
viticulture, soil management, pest management, wine quality and ecosystem
management. Among the lower scores were energy efficiency, human resources
and materials handling - which is environmentally conscious purchasing.

Frey added that participants' feedback on the workbook assessment has been
very positive.

"The general reaction is that there are a lot of things (they) should be
managing and considering that they might not have considered before," he
said. "And the workbook has a lot of references and informational panels."

Most participants, he added, walk away from the workshop with ideas to
improve their operations socially, environmentally and economically. Some
procedures he described as "low-hanging fruit" or easily attained. Others,
he said, "might have a cost."