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Californian wine shows sustainability is good for business and planet

The focus of that trip was around viticulture and winemaking, but it had a typically West Coast spin – namely to convey the advances made by the wine industry in all aspects of sustainability. And here again, the Californians appear to be leading the way. In a world beset by deep concerns about humanity’s impact on the environment and related climate change, this is a sector that wants not just to put its house in order, but also to share those advances with the rest of the winemaking world. Unsurprisingly, the recent devastating wildfires in LA further pressed home the urgency. As one winemaker observed, “wine is a luxury, we can’t afford to be part of the problem”.

The carbon footprint of wine production itself is one major issue. But the other clear driver behind the necessity of increased sustainability is that of the health and potential longevity of the vineyards and their soils, along with an increasing understanding of the role a healthy local ecosystem plays in that equation. And one over-arching takeaway that those Central Coast producers communicated is that viticulture and winemaking, far from being just another part of the global problem, can instead be part of the solution if done well.

This all plays into the buzz in California around the regenerative viticulture which many are embracing as a kind of holistic crown to all other sustainable activities. Cover crops and no tilling, coupled with eco-corridors, integrated pest management, green energy, reduction of monoculture and – of course – a weaning off of synthetic chemicals in the vineyards are all part of this drive. And, as a serendipitous consequence, most would agree that the resulting wines are brighter and more vibrant as well.

“If the whole world’s agriculture went regenerative, which improves carbon sequestration in the soil, we would solve the CO2 problem and halt global warming,” says Caine Thompson, head of sustainability at Robert Hall Winery in Paso Robles.

It’s worth pausing a moment to let that claim sink in. This estate has been trialling organic regenerative farming and, according to the soil monitoring that’s ongoing, there’s been a 10% increase in carbon absorption in just the past year, down to the increased organic and microbial content under the ground. In one sense, carbon sequestration only offsets humanity’s ongoing emissions elsewhere, but as California’s increasingly volatile wildfires drive home, action is needed now.

“If regenerative is to change the world, and I believe it can do, it can’t be elitist, and we believe we can go beyond this, to set an example with all wine,” Thompson added. 

He also stressed that, while the five-year trial had increased farming costs by around 7%, significant and accelerating yield increases over subsequent vintages had “more than offset this… so the economics work”.

California and its various wine regions and sub-regions are covered by myriad sustainability schemes which, while potentially confusing for consumers (more on this below), all typically place transparency and sharing of best practice at their core. And this is clearly helping to drive sustainability uptake and advancement across the industry, with the ‘normalisation’ of sustainable practices arguably delivering a sort of FOMO among those lagging behind.

For Mark Pisoni, who simply describes himself as ‘farmer’ at his small, family-owned estate way up in the Santa Lucia Highlands, the plethora of sustainability accreditation schemes is a plus, allowing for more inclusive and flexible pathways.

“Us farmers are really working hard to try to do the right thing. We are really aware of what’s going on in the world, and there are so many different ways of doing it, and different farmers are working hard to try to figure out what works on their ranch,” he says. “It’s really about working with nature on this, how farmers worked for generations before, and this is where we are seeing the California wine industry go, to older world ways of sustainable farming.”

Pisoni, who subscribes to biodynamic and regenerative practices, describes “hundreds of things that we weren’t doing 25 years ago”, such as no tilling of soils, cover crops and different vine training, all of which also help with reducing irrigation needs. All this plus the creation of a native plant garden by the vineyard to help increase beneficial biodiversity.

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Strong ecosystem

Again, this stronger ecosystem is about improving the planet at the macro-level, while protecting and promoting the health of the soils and thus vines for future generations. And Pisoni is in no doubt that the resultant wines benefit, with such practices enhancing their expression of terroir.

“We have three vineyards in Santa Lucia Highlands, each a little different, each is hand-farmed and we are looking for wines of integrity, speaking of where they are from, and [sustainable farming] is giving a good vibe, a good energy to the wines,” he adds.

The Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays here are elegant, minerally and finely structured, but if talk of ‘good vibes and energy’ is just a little too laid-back Californian for some, it’s worth considering what some of the bigger players are doing and discovering on their own sustainability drives. All, of course, can help make a difference, but without the buy-in and leadership of volume producers, then only very limited change will come.

The softly spoken Steve Lohr at J Lohr Vineyards in San Jose, which has over 4,000 acres (1,600ha) of vineyards spread around the Paso Robles, Arroyo Seco, Santa Lucia Highlands and St Helena (Napa) AVAs, is clearly a devotee of sustainable practices, also being an influential voice in the California Sustainable Winemaking Alliance (CSWA).

“We feel we are the leaders in the world, because CSWA is the most transparent in the world… each year we get together as an industry to talk about the new things we can do, and the Alliance [charter] is questioned and evolved by the growers involved,” he says.

With 15 different ‘chapters’ to the CSWA’s guidance and goals, covering the likes of air quality, soil health, community, water efficiency, energy efficiency, and so on, Lohr stresses a key point is that this is available to all, whether certified or non-certified, allowing producers large or small to work towards greater sustainability goals.

“[Having scale] the importance is that you can help lead the way. It can be incredibly daunting to get going on a good sustainability journey, but we are willing to share, to help people on their way – leadership is incredibly important, which is why we joined the CSWA,” he says.

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Compelling definition

One challenge highlighted by Lohr is the difficulty of communicating ‘sustainability’, given its myriad facets and pathways. His definition is compelling and relatively easy to grasp.

“We think of it as the ‘three Es’: the environment, which is what most people think of when they think of sustainability; but there are two other parts in social equity – how do you treat your community? – and then economic sustainability, because if you can’t make a buck at what you are doing, then you are not going to be around too long, and that, by definition, is not sustainable,” he says.

“Think of those as three circles, and in the middle of where those three circles are set, that is sustainability, the intersection of the three.”

There’s no doubt as to the commitment and scale of what’s taking place in California’s vineyards, which are also doing a big education piece to get these messages out there, both to the wider wine world and, ultimately, the end consumer. At Bien Nacido Estate in Santa Maria Valley, which provides grapes for many famous and quality-focused California wine labels and is both SIP (Sustainability in Practice) certified and a member of CSWA, director of agriculture Greg Gonzales (pictured) explains the challenge.

“If you want to change, you have to figure out how to change people, because it’s all about people,” he reasons. “Fear of change is the biggest obstacle.”

“Sustainability and its certification help us to better understand and communicate what we are doing,” he adds, saying that measurement of attainment and progress is all important in achieving such aims.

Sometimes it’s the smaller details that make for the best takeaways. Here, at night, that Californian predilection for tech and innovation is in evidence once more. The Bien Nacido team has been trialling green power-charged robots among the vines, which zap mildew with ultraviolet light, and then sharing the results with interested producer-colleagues. And this neat little detail is just one more implement in the extensive toolbox that California’s winemakers have assembled to protect and enhance their future and that of their vines in this go-ahead state.

• Environment
• California
• Organic
• Napa
• Californian Wine
• Sustainability
• paso robles
• Regenerative Viticulture