IWCA membership swells with 12 new high-profile applicants

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 30 September, 2021

The International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA) grouping has accepted application for membership from 12 new wineries to join its ranks.

Founded in 2019 to help “tackle the severity of the climate crisis” by reducing carbon emissions from participating wineries, the non-profit IWCA was born of an initial collaboration between Jackson Family Wines of California and Familia Torres in Spain.

The new applicant members are: A to Z Wineworks, Oregon; Cakebread Cellars, California; Château Troplong Mondot, Bordeaux; Constellation Brands Fine Wine Portfolio, California; Crimson Wine Group, California; Gloria Ferrer, California; Herència Altés, Catalonia; Hunt Country Vineyards, New York; Medlock Ames, California; Ridge Vineyards, California; Sula Vineyards, Nashik, India; and Yalumba Family Winemakers, South Australia.

The dozen newbies bring the total IWCA membership to more than 20 wine companies spanning seven countries around the winemaking globe.

This follows the bringing on board of a secretariat in July this year from Meridian Institute, a consultancy well-versed in multi-stakeholder collaboration on challenges such as climate and sustainability across agriculture and the supply chain.

The IWCA offers its members support “including facilitation, communication, and coordination” of daily operations and longer term goals in line with tackling emissions related to all aspects of viticulture and winemaking.

“When Katie Jackson of Jackson Family Wines and I co-founded IWCA in February 2019 as a working group, we wanted to act and move beyond conversation around the urgency of climate change,” said Miguel A. Torres, President of Familia Torres.

“Our goal was to gather the most environmentally committed wineries, and we hoped our initiative would work as a boost for other wineries to accelerate or start their carbon emissions reduction programs. It is therefore great to see that now with 12 new applicant members joining, we are more than 20 wineries worldwide. We are convinced that this will have a multiplier effect, especially in combination with the appointment as Secretariat of the renowned Meridian Institute.”

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