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Katherine Martine | Wine Business monthly
Lightweighting glass bottles plays a significant role in helping sustainability by reducing a winery’s carbon emissions, but there are also other effective ways to drive sustainability including using reusable bottles, collecting and recycling film wraps, and choosing alternative shipping materials. These were some of the good practices discussed Wednesday at the third Napa RISE Climate & Wine Symposium hosted by Napa Green at Charles Krug Winery.
The half-day’s worth of sessions centered around the supply chain and waste prevention was the penultimate event of the series of six events for the symposium, which started on April 29 and ended May 8.
Oregon-based wine bottle reuse organization Revino shared information about their efforts in creating more of a circular supply chain with a goal to eliminate single-use packaging.
Oregon-based DANCIN Winery, while they use various lightweight glass, is taking their sustainability efforts a step further by partnering with Revino to offer a fully refillable glass option. This initiative is part of a larger effort by the entire Jacksonville Wine District in Oregon, according to Austin Marca of DANCIN Winery. Marca spoke with WineBusiness Monthly (WBM) in February about their journey to using lightweight glass.
“It’s repackaged and sent back out and that can be to any winery,” Marca said in explaining the reuse process. “Potentially with Oregon’s upcoming Bottle Bill that would also play into [it]. Revino has a special bottle design that can be scanned through the bottle process so it makes it even easier for collection where people can put it right into their green bag or whatever they use for their recycling at home and then it’s dropped off at the facility, scanned and separated out. So they’re very forward thinking in what they’re doing.”
Marca said DANCIN is moving all their Chardonnay to Revino and will start making that transition.
“I think America is a little bit behind the trend of refillable bottles,” he added, noting that refillable bottles are more common in Europe.
Marca said while Revino is pretty new to the market from what he’s heard, they have a pretty good amount of people moving to Revino in Northern Oregon. And while they currently operate in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, they plan to expand to California, according to the RISE Symposium discussion with Adam Rack, co-founder of Revino.
They also want to bring the company’s reuse capabilities to Napa and hope to start pilot projects in the region in four to six months.
Taking a closer look at the elements of a wine bottle and its reusability, being able to reuse labels and label liner backing is also important. The Napa Valley Zero Waste Collective, which was born following the 2023 Napa RISE Climate & Wine Symposium, helps facilitate label backing recycling with the Raflatac group. Michael Garretson, manager, recycling and circular solutions at UPM Raflatac, said with enabling the recycling of label backing, it gets turned into raw polyester and ultimately carpeting. A vintner-led initiative, the Napa Valley Zero Waste Collective also has two established collection facilities for film wrap. The wrap is collected by Trex and turned into sustainable decking, according to presenters.
The Collective can also support recycling of other materials, with pickup options available to wineries.
While physically shipping wine via air or freight can be a thorn in the side to sustainability, so too can the shipping materials. At B Cellars, a DTC-focused winery that produces premium reds and whites, they successfully transitioned to using green cell foam packaging for boxes and insulation. The packaging is derived from U.S.-grown corn—so you could eat it, compost it, or use it as a fire starter since it’s based from corn and is BPI-certified compostable, quipped Curtis Strohl, the general manager at B Cellars.
When they made the switch he said they found that their customers actually liked it better than the Styrofoam as it had more of an aesthetically pleasing appearance than the foam bits and made less of a mess during unpackaging.
Strohl said the corn foam does cost more than the Styrofoam; we justified it as “this is part of our customer experience.” Strohl said once we framed it that way it made a lot of sense.
“This change will remove over 30,000 cubic feet and over 15,000 pounds of styrofoam per year from landfills and commercial waste facilities,” according to the winery, which made the switch to green cell in August 2021.
Leadership in Supply Chain and Waste Prevention
This year the Napa RISE Leadership Award for supply chain and waste prevention was awarded to Clif Family Winery.
Clif Family’s Director of Operations, Sarah Richmond, accepted the award with winemaker Laura Barrett watching from the audience. Sarah likened sustainability work to mountaineering—you want to be able to not carry too much weight but still have the key items you need in your pack. She shared that they ditched foils, screw caps and the special metal bike cogs that adorned their high-end bottles. They started shipping smart with shipping companies like FedEx that are moving to electric vehicle fleets and started insulating shipping boxes with bio-based materials.
In addition, the winery, which is B Corp-Certified, made the move to lightweight glass.
“Overall, we’ve been able to reduce bottle weight across our portfolio by 28% since 2022,” Linzi Gay, president of Clif Family, told WBM.
Clif initially trialed their first lightweight glass in early 2023 for 750ml bottles, including both Burgundy- and Bordeaux-style wine bottles. In looking at their transition to lighter glass, Gay shared the changes the winery made over time:
• 2022 – Avg. 750ml bottle weighed 562g
• 2023 – Avg. 750ml bottle weighed 529g
• 2024 – Avg. 750ml bottle weighed 420g
Thank you all for making RISE Climate & Wine Symposium a success! We 70 powerful speakers and 650 guests across the six events, dozens of commitments to action, and a flood of positive, heartfelt feedback.
Let’s keep the momentum going!
📸: @briana_marie
Congratulations to Napa Green Certified @cliffamily for winning the RISE Leadership Award for Supply Chain & Waste Management Excellence!
Clif Family attended our first conference & committed to reducing their bottle weight and waste. They set upon an inspiring journey to change their packaging based on their outdoors loving and mountaineering inspired founders. They were able to..
• lighten the weight of a case of their wine by almost 8 lbs!
• reduce their carbon output by 42 metric tons!
• institute fully recyclable, bio based shippers that keep wine cool!
• eliminate all foils!
• eliminate all plastic & metal moving fully to renewable cork enclosures!
Their customers responded with absolute enthusiasm.
“This story is not just about wine packaging or supply chain decisions. It’s about how we do business. It’s leading with values. It’s about remembering that the best way to climb higher.. is to carry less.” - Sarah Richmond, Clif Family Winery.
Take action this Earth Month with Napa Green. Our team of experts is ready to assist you in achieving your climate action goals for both your vineyard and winery, no matter where you are in your sustainability journey.
🎥 @robot_productions
#earthday #earthdayeveryday #earthmonth #climateaction #sustainabilty #climatesmart #regenerativeag
🍴Wednesday April, 23rd is the day NOT to miss lunch at @cliffamily!!
Come enjoy delicious food while supporting Napa Green! See you there.
Uniquely, Napa Green isn’t just a roadmap of leading practices. Napa Green provides an expert, boots-on-the-ground consulting team that develops:
✅ Regenerative Carbon Farm Plans (to enhance soil health, biodiversity, resilience, and carbon storage)
✅ Irrigation Distribution Uniformity Assessments (to maximize water efficiency)
✅ Integrated Resource Assessments (to reduce energy, water, waste and emissions in production)
✅ Action Plans for continuing improvement (tailored to the opportunities and goals of each vineyard or winery)
Additionally, we support soil sampling and analysis, provide resource assistance, run practical training and education workshops throughout the year, and provide valuable, hands-on guidance in meeting your climate action goals.
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
📷 @buddsocial
📍 @tressabores
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #regenerativevineyard #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness
Napa Green’s vineyard team is trained to develop regenerative, whole-farm Carbon Farm Plans (CFPs). These plans review all of the current beneficial practices that are increasing soil and ecosystem health and storing carbon, and identify additional opportunities to regenerate the soil and vineyard ecosystem and simultaneously maximize carbon capture in a given property. Each vineyard’s goal is to become carbon neutral (or negative) and increase the resilience of vineyards, businesses, and our community.
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
📷 @soilrainandhope
📍 @tressabores
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #regenerativevineyard #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness
Clear pathways for employee advancement are essential for a thriving workforce and driving success. They boost retention, job satisfaction, productivity, and attract top talent. Napa Green Certified members develop pathways for growth, discussing career goals and progress with employees during reviews.
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
📷 @briana_marie
📍 @dominusestatewinery
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #regenerativevineyard #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness
Forests are not only our largest terrestrial carbon sink, they are also home to 80% of the world’s on-land diversity. We need healthy forests, which means a balanced density of native trees and plants. Healthy forests experience lower intensity fires with less tree mortality, meaning higher carbon retention and ecosystem function.
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
📷 @abrittain
📍 @seaveyvineyard
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #regenerativevineyard #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness
Napa Green Certified Wineries benefit from an on-site Integrated Resource Assessment (IRA) led by our experienced engineers and winemakers. This IRA evaluates resource metrics, monitors progress, and identifies areas for improvement to increase efficiency and save $$$.
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
📍 @materrawines
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness
All of our members are committed to using at least 60% renewable energy, whether through on-site solar and other renewable sources or by working with @mcecleanenergy to access clean power through the grid. The impact? Over 1.2 million pounds of CO2e saved by wineries and vineyards in just one year. To put that into perspective it’s the equivalent to offsetting the emissions from driving over 1.5 million miles in a typical gas-powered car!
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
📷 @love.dream.breathe
📍 @corisonwinery
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #regenerativevineyard #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness #renewableenergy #greenpower #greenenergy
As part of their commitment to sustainability, Napa Green Certified Winery members collaborate with key suppliers and utilize their purchasing power to support eco-friendly practices. In the same way, we can make a difference at home by choosing materials made from post-consumer recycled materials, and selecting reusable, recyclable, compostable, biodegradable, and non-toxic products.
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #regenerativevineyard #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness #greenpurchasing #supplychain
Napa Green Certified Vineyards implement climate-smart burn practices, such as Conservation Burning, Flame Cap Kilns, and Air Curtain Burners. These practices reduce smoke and emissions and create biochar. Biochar is re-fossilized wood that provides long-term carbon storage. Even more compelling, when inoculated and applied with compost, biochar aids in water retention and increases water and fertilizer efficiency.
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
📍 @gloriaferrerwinery
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #regenerativevineyard #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness
Napa Green Certified Vineyards implement practices to create habitat for beneficial wildlife, including bluebirds, owls, bats, and raptors. Members may also install boxes and perches if trees or other natural perches aren’t present to encourage these animals in the vineyard. These measures are part of a broader commitment to sustainable and regenerative farming practices.
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
📷 @soilrainandhope
📍 @tressaboreswinery
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #regenerativevineyard #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness #biodiversity
While vineyards don’t directly require pollination, pollinators still play a vital role in the overall health of our ecosystems. Increased biodiversity leads to better soil health, water retention and can attract beneficial insects. Plus, pollinators are friend shaped! 🐝
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
📷 @soilrainandhope
📍 @grgichhills
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #regenerativevineyard #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness #biodiversity
Join us @earthdaynapa tomorrow, April 12 at the wine booth to try some sustainable wines!
All proceeds for to the Environmental Education Coalition of Napa County’s Field Trip Bus Grant Program and the Darcy Aston Scholarship.
#earthday #earthmonth #earthdayeveryday #sustainablewine #climatesmartwine
Carbon storage is inherently site-specific, tied to unique combinations of soil types, microclimates, historical farming practices, and more. Napa Green Certified Vineyards leverage soil sampling to validate the on-the-ground impacts of their regenerative farming methods.
✅ Napa Green members implement over 120 best practices in both the Vineyard and Winery. This Earth Month, learn about 21 of them with “21 Days, 21 Ways” counting down to Earth Day.
📷 @growresiliently
📍 @sixsigmaranch
#21days21ways #earthmonth #earthday #climateaction #regenerativevineyard #climatesmart #sustainablewine #regenerativeag #environmentalleadership #wineindustry #winebusiness
