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<\/div>\nWinemakers have kept track of harvest dates and yields for centuries, so they were among the first to notice the impact of a changing climate on their sensitive vines. <\/p>\n
To be sustainable in the long term, farming vines organically to save the soil is only one step. Many winemakers recognize they have to nurture the whole environment of their estates, including the animals that live there and the people who work on it. To fight climate change, they cut carbon emissions with solar and geothermal energy, track their carbon footprints, and keep experimenting.<\/p>\n
The wineries that follow are making a meaningful impact \u2013<\/strong> but they are far from alone.<\/p>\n See also: Five Sustainable Spirits For Eco-Conscious Drinkers<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n New Zealand\u2019s wine image is clean and green, and Felton Road<\/a> winery in Central Otago, one of the country\u2019s top pinot noir producers, epitomizes that ideal. To be sustainable, says owner Nigel Greening, he abandoned the idea of constantly seeking growth, which ends up exploiting the environment and puts profits first.\u00a0<\/p>\n Everything Felton Road does is evaluated for its impact, starting with organic and biodynamic vineyards. Rather than spray or burn the wild roses taking over hillsides, it brought in African Boer goats to chew them up. No waste treatment plant is needed because Felton Road reuses everything, in compost, in creating brandy, or in some other way. Labels are printed with water-based inks.<\/p>\n But the single greatest carbon input for wineries, Greening explains, is glass and packaging. To minimize its carbon footprint, Felton Road switched to bottles that are 22 percent lighter and packs them in recycled cardboard boxes, which reduces the amount of energy required for shipping and distribution.<\/p>\n One of the most idyllic wineries in the Napa Valley, Spottswoode<\/a>\u2019s environmental leadership is part of its history. In 1985, it was one of the first wineries in the valley to farm organically, was certified organic in 1992, and is now certified biodynamic, too. Bird boxes and insectaries dot the vineyards. Beth Novak Milliken, the second generation to run the family winery, nurtures the winery\u2019s land and workers (while still making elegant great wines), but also sees the importance of being part of local and global initiatives like International Wineries for Climate Action.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since 2007, Spottswoode has given more than $800,000 to the nonprofit organization 1 percent for the Planet. Milliken also believes obtaining certifications is essential to make sustainability efforts more transparent for consumers. In 2020, it became the first Napa winery to achieve rigorous B Corp certification, which measures both a company\u2019s environmental impact and what it is doing for workers and the community.<\/p>\n See also: Bollinger\u2019s Cult Cuv\u00e9es May Soon Disappear \u2013 Here\u2019s Why<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n In 1990, ex-Olympic skiers Florence and Daniel Cathiard spotted run-down Ch\u00e2teau Smith Haut Lafitte<\/a> in Bordeaux from a helicopter and bought it. Since then, they\u2019ve banished chemicals from the vineyards, relying on natural herbal medicines for the vines (phytotherapy), and fight pests through sexual confusion, a way of disrupting the mating of harmful insects. Horses and alpacas, not tractors, plow between vines to save fragile soil areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n And that\u2019s not all \u2014 they\u2019ve been leaders in the region in creating an entire ecosystem. An energy self-sufficient underground \u2018stealth cellar\u2019 for the estate\u2019s second wines relies on geothermal and solar power. And who says recycling is dull? At the estate\u2019s Sources de Caudalie vinotherapy spa, founded by daughter Mathilde and her husband, discarded grape seeds and vine cuttings turn into lauded beauty products. Most intriguing is the winery\u2019s carbon-capture system, the world\u2019s first to recycle the CO2 released by fermenting grapes into bicarbonate of soda.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the loudest evangelists in the wine world, Miguel Torres Sr is the patriarch of this 150-year-old Spanish wine company, which also has family outposts in Chile and California. Inspired by the 2007 climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth<\/em>, Torres <\/a>is passionate about reducing CO2 emissions that boost warming, tirelessly urges others to join him, and co-founded International Wineries for Climate Action to decarbonize the wine industry. Now, he and son Miguel Torres Maczassek, the company\u2019s general manager, pump 11% of the company\u2019s annual profits into the environment and fighting climate change.\u00a0<\/p>\n Energy efficiency is their watchword. If you tour Bodegas Torres Wine Center in Pacs del Pened\u00e8s, you\u2019ll whiz around in a solar-powered sightseeing train. At Waltraud Winery, the white sand-covered roof reflects solar energy and reduces air-conditioning needs. A biomass boiler transforms pruned vine shoots into heat and electricity. One of the family\u2019s current projects is their effort to bring back ancestral grape varieties that can adapt to the drought and warming brought about by climate change. The top one, so far, is 2016 Torres Forcada.<\/p>\n Founded in 1982, Sonoma-based Kendall-Jackson winery made its mark with the popular Vintner\u2019s Reserve Chardonnay. Now this family-owned company encompasses more than 40 premium wineries on five continents. So it was a big deal when Jackson Family Wines<\/a> launched a formal sustainability program in 2008 with environmental, social, and community goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, the in-house sustainability champion is second-generation Katie Jackson, who has overseen the company becoming the largest generator of on-site solar energy in the US wine industry. She also began issuing regular progress reports on the winery\u2019s actions, and co-founded International Wineries for Climate Action, helping future winemakers understand the latest innovations. They funded the Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building at the University of California at Davis, the first self-sustainable, zero-carbon teaching and research facility in the world.<\/p>\n In the foothills of Mont Ventoux in southern France, in a pristine Unesco biosphere reserve, you\u2019ll find the award-winning winery Ch\u00eane Bleu<\/a>. It was an abandoned estate when committed conservationist Xavier Rolet (once CEO of the London Stock Exchange) took it on, then spent 15 years restoring it with his wife Nicole, and his wine-growing sister and brother-in-law. No toxic chemicals are used in the vineyard, and the entire site is farmed organically and biodynamically. They planted a half-hectare bamboo forest behind the winery to filter wastewater naturally, part of their zero-impact plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n But it’s with Sustaina-BEE-lity, or Beehives for Biodiversity, that they\u2019re extending their environmental credentials beyond their own vineyard. It launched in 2019 with a crowdfunding campaign working with renowned bee and soil experts to answer the questions: Could bees help make vines more resilient, make better wine, enhance nature, improve profits, and decrease long-term risks?\u00a0<\/p>\n Rolet had been interested in beekeeping since his teen years, setting up hives near a Ch\u00eane Bleu Grenache vineyard. When some parts of it started to thrive, with higher yields, the team noticed cover crops between the rows were plusher, too. Winemakers encourage wildflowers and other plants to grow between rows because they help soil retain water and increase microbes that keep it healthy. Bees seem to help expand the biodiversity of this delicate ecosystem. Could they help wineries shift more quickly to organic viticulture, with less cost? As pesticides are contributing to the rapid and worrying decline in bee populations worldwide, the Rolets hope this idea may help save the bees, too — and make a delicious glass to toast with in the meantime.\u00a0<\/p>\n At eco-friendly Tablas Creek winery, in California\u2019s Paso Robles region, owls zap vine-root-eating gophers, chickens gobble up destructive insects, and black-faced sheep chow down on the weeds between rows of vines, pausing from time to time to fertilize the soil. The idea, explains partner and general manager Jason Haas, is to make a wine estate an ecosystem: his vision of regenerative farming.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe 7 Sustainable Wineries to Know<\/h2>\n
Felton Road, New Zealand<\/h2>\n
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Spottswoode, Napa Valley<\/h2>\n
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Ch\u00e2teau Smith Haut Lafitte, Bordeaux <\/h2>\n
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Familia Torres, Spain<\/h2>\n
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Jackson Family Wines, Sonoma<\/h2>\n
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Ch\u00eane Bleu, Southern Rh\u00f4ne<\/h2>\n
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Tablas Creek, Paso Robles<\/h2>\n
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