the Sustainability Story at Jackson Family Wines
continued »
WHEN JESS JACKSON left his career
as an attorney to pursue a passion for
winemaking in the early 1980s, little did
he know that his legacy in winemaking
would eventually span multiple decades,
five continents, and more than 30 wineries,
including Kendall-Jackson, La Crema,
Cambria, Stonestreet, Matanzas Creek,
Cardinale and Verite. Today, 32 years
after Jess Jackson crafted his first bottle
of Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay in Lake
County in 1982, the family business he
started, Jackson Family Wines (JFW), has
distinguished itself as one of the world’s
leading luxury wine companies, producing
the highest quality, sustainable wines from
some of the world’s premier vineyard sites.
SELECTED JFW BRANDS: Kendall-JacksonLa CremaCambriaStonestreetMurphy-GoodeMatanzas CreekArrowoodHartfordCardinaleFreemark AbbeyVeriteLa JotaLokoyaWindracerEdmeades Champs de RevesYangarraTenuta di Arceno Chateau Lassegue
A Company with a Long-term Vision From the outset, Jess Jackson envisioned a
wine company that would be family-owned and
multi-generational. Daughters Jenny Jackson
Hartford and Laura Jackson Giron remember
helping to plant the family’s first vineyard and
accompanying their father on trips to deliver
barrels of his first batches of wine. Today,
Hartford’s husband, Don Hartford, is the CEO of
JFW, and Barbara Banke, Jackson’s wife of more
than 25 years, is its Chairman and Proprietor.
Family members work at every level of the
organization, giving the business direction over
both its practices and its values: philanthropy,
community, land stewardship, and, above all,
excellent, artisan-crafted wines.
JFW’s commitment to its wine—produced
with coastal and cool-climate fruit and artisan
craftsmanship—makes it a leader among wine
companies. What is lesser known is that the
company is also a leader in environmentally and
socially responsible business practices, and was
selected as both the 2013 Green Company of
the Year and given special commendation as
the 2014 Ethical Company of the Year by The
Drinks Business, Europe’s leading beverage
industry trade publication. In 2011, JFW was also
recognized for its environmental commitment
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
with a Green Power Leadership Award. Other
organizations recognized that year included
Google, Intel and the City of San Francisco.
Katie Jackson, Banke and Jackson’s oldest
daughter, is a key contributor to the Jackson
Family team, leading the company’s sustainability
and external affairs efforts. She fondly remembers
Jess Jackson’s commitment to integrity in winemaking
and land stewardship. “My father and mother made
decisions according to the long-term success of
the company,” she says. “Our values are rooted in a
sustainable lens that has inspired how we approach
each key decision and remains an essential part of
who we are as winegrowers.”
In addition to the company’s commitment
to quality winemaking and environmental
stewardship, detailed below, JFW also has a
documented history of philanthropic work. From
the beginning, Jackson and Banke made it a
priority to give back to their employees and the
communities in which they do business. Each
year, JFW provides financial support in the form
of in-kind and monetary donations to more than
40 nonprofit organizations in California and
Oregon. Employees of the company are also
encouraged to volunteer at local non-profits.
The company also provides its 1,400 employees
with unique career opportunities such as its
Cultivate and High Impact Leadership programs,
and ongoing professional development in
leadership, language skills and business: in 2013,
nearly every employee completed JFW courses
in these topics, for a combined 10,000 hours of
professional development opportunities.
continued »
The Evolution of an IdeaJackson’s long-term vision for a sustained,
multi-generational winery is tied to the vineyards
themselves. Jackson was an early adopter of healthy
land management practices, and began reducing
the use of toxic pesticides and implementing water-
conserving drip irrigation earlier than many others in
the industry.
Today, this commitment to sustainability is in the
DNA of JFW. The company’s current strategy took
root in 2008 when Jackson and Banke began a
comprehensive, company-wide assessment of
the organization’s environmental impact. The
company developed a multi-pronged approach to
addressing these impacts, based on three primary
tenets: sustaining our land, crafting our wines, and
advancing the field. To meet its goals, the company
has relied on conservation, optimization, and
renewable power generation.
Since beginning its journey, the company has
achieved 3rd party sustainability certifications—
including the Certified California Sustainable
Winegrowing (CCSW) and Sustainability in Practice
(SIP) vineyard programs—for all of its vineyards and
wineries, an unusual achievement among
wine companies.
To date, the company has saved about $15 million
through its energy efficiency initiatives alone, and
has considerably reduced the energy and water
required to produce a single gallon of wine. Despite
growth during this same period, the company is using
15% less electricity overall compared to its 2008
baseline. These savings have allowed the winery to
expand its initial sustainability efforts even further,
making the company a role model for other
value-driven organizations.
Sustainability in Action at JFWWith a number of sustainability initiatives already
implemented over the years, the Jackson family knew
that it was time to build on its long-term perspective
and foundation by developing greater environmental
controls to reduce the company’s operational
footprint. This in turn would allow the organization
to address current and future resource constraints.
Three primary impact areas were identified: energy,
water, and land use.
JFW SUSTAINABILITY AT-A-GLANCE
• Kendall-Jackson established in 1982 in Lake County, California
• Member, EPA’s Green Power Leadership Club and past recipient of the Green Power Leadership Award
• Saved $15 million to date through energy efficiency initiatives
• Uses only four gallons of water to produce a gallon of wine, 2x more efficient than the industry average
• Recycles or reuses 98% of all materials used on bottling line
• Funded Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building at University of California Davis
continued »
EnergyJFW has taken a two-fold approach to energy
management: increasing its consumption of
clean power (specifically solar and wind) while
simultaneously improving operational and energy
efficiency at all levels of the organization. After
taking stock of its total energy footprint—and
associated costs—in 2008, the company began to
measure energy as a key performance indicator
directly tied to the bottom line. Since that time,
JFW has reduced its energy consumption by
5.3 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, the
equivalent of removing approximately 3,850
passenger vehicles from the roads. In total, the
company has reduced its energy consumption by
64% at its wineries and reduced greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions by 51% organization-wide.
Energy Efficiency at JFW
The company’s initial step to curb energy
consumption required the overhaul of existing
systems and machinery in order to increase
operational efficiency. An early initiative was
retrofitting lighting across 12 winery buildings
and warehouses. Working with engineers from
GE, the company selected super-efficient
fluorescent lamps and ballasts for the massive
project. Over a six-month period, Jackson
Family Wines replaced the existing 400-watt
metal halide fixtures with 4,000 high efficiency
lamps, producing an annual energy savings of
more than 1.6 million kWh. Through this project
alone, JFW was able to reduce its emissions by
the equivalent of the carbon sequestered by
904 acres of U.S forests.
The next step was to retrofit the company’s
existing HVAC system, replacing 104 air handling
unit motors with variable speed drives, and
upgrade the company’s refrigeration and
water pumps, cooling towers, condensers, and
compressors at its six largest wineries. This
enabled these wineries to operate more efficiently
while reducing energy intensity and maintaining
rigid quality controls.
In 2009, the company began participating
in Pacific Gas & Electric’s Demand Response
program, in which large energy consumers
commit to reducing electricity consumption on
high-demand days to reduce stress on the grid.
THREE STEPS TO A SMALLER CARBON FOOTPRINT AT JFW
1. Improve efficiency by reducing energy consumption.
2. Invest directly in renewables through onsite installation.
3. Utilize green power in the form of renewable energy credits (RECs) to offset the impact of emissions from purchased electricity that cannot be reduced or avoided.
continued »
photo credit: SunWorks
Clean Power Commitment at JFWAfter completing the 2008 energy footprint
audit, the JFW team knew that they would need
to invest in clean power if they were to reduce
the company’s greenhouse gas emissions beyond
efficiency measures. In 2009, the company began
purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs),
and in 2011, was recognized for its commitments
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
with a Green Power Leadership Award. Other
organizations recognized that year included
Google, Intel and the City of San Francisco. In
2012, JFW became the first wine company, and
one of the select few companies in the United
States, to buy green power to offset 100% of
its employees’ home electricity use as well as
100% of the company’s energy use, with total
REC purchases equaling 130% of the company’s
energy usage.
RECs are the established method for tracking
and purchasing clean power credits in North
America. They are generated in a one-to-one ratio
with the quantity of energy from a clean power
project, such as a wind farm, that is delivered to
the electrical grid. RECs represent the “proof”
that clean power has been generated and added
to the overall electricity mix, and companies
that utilize RECs, like JFW, are able to claim the
environmental benefits of that clean power. The
RECs purchased by JFW are certified by Green-e
Energy, the nation’s leading 3rd party verifier of
RECs and other clean power products. JFW buys
100% certified wind energy.
JFW Invests in Onsite RenewablesEnergy efficiency and the purchase of clean
power RECs were important initial efforts by JFW
to curb its carbon footprint, but the company
has since begun investing in onsite renewables
in order to obtain clean power directly. These
projects have been funded by the nearly $15M
in energy savings that the company has realized
as a result of its efficiency initiatives, and the
company has 7 megawatts (MW) of onsite solar
in development at nine of its California wineries,
which will make JFW the wine industry’s largest
solar energy generator by the end of 2015.
To date, JFW has built one of the largest rooftop
solar and hot water cogeneration facilities in
the nation, saving the company $30,000 and
700,000 kWh of electricity annually, equivalent to
44 average American homes’ energy use for one
year. The system provides electricity for lighting
and cooling systems as well as the hot water
required in the winemaking process.
The company has also built a 280 kilowatt
solar system at its Carneros Hills Winery, and a 162
kilowatt solar system at its Hartford Family Winery.
These onsite initiatives will allow JFW to source
approximately 60% of its electricity from onsite
resources, company-wide, which is the equivalent
to offsetting the electricity use of 1400
California homes.
HUGH REIMERS JFW’s Chief Operating Officer
Our onsite renewable and energy efficiency initiatives allow us to reduce our utility bills as well as demand for grid-sourced electricity.We’re hopeful that we may even be able to take a winery off the grid entirely someday.
continued »
WaterWater management is a key initiative for any
California business, but for JFW, it has become
one of the focal points of their sustainability
program. The company understands the critical
importance of water to winemaking, and also
recognizes that its finished product is only as
good as its ingredients; water plays a critical role
in the health of the family’s vineyards and the
grapes they produce.
Each year, JFW’s water conservation strategies
save nine million gallons of water, the equivalent
of 180,000 bathtubs full. The company has also
reduced its winery water consumption from its
2008 baseline by 49%. Only four gallons of water
are used for every gallon of wine JFW produces,
which is 2 times more efficient than the
industry average.
A few of JFW’s winery water conservation and
reuse initiatives include:
• Employing automated barrel line recycling
units that reclaim and clean barrel wash
water three times before the water is treated.
These recycling units are the first of their
kind, and JFW partnered with the Tom Beard
Company to develop them in tandem. In
addition, the process uses high-pressure
barrel washers that use 45% less hot water
and 40% less water overall.
• Developing a water recycling system that
reuses caustic cleaning solution for tank
and mobile tanker washing. JFW outfitted
3 portable tanks that hold caustic cleaning
solution and recycle it from one wine tank to
the next during the cleaning process, without
having to dump water down the drain. The
caustic solution is pH balanced as needed.
• Treating and reusing winery process water
for vineyard irrigation to close the loop.
The company has reduced its winery water consumption from its 2008 baseline by 49%.
continued »
Vineyard Water ConservationOne of JFW’s primary methods of managing
vineyard water use is via conservation. The
company employs various technologies to identify
optimum watering periods for individual vineyard
blocks. These tools include an extensive drip
irrigation and moisture-monitoring system that
use soil probes and leaf porometers to measure
the actual water content of the soil and vineyards;
stations installed at multiple vineyards that gather
evapotranspiration data and use barometric
monitoring programs to analyze weather
conditions; and weather-linked irrigation systems
that automatically update irrigation levels. Taken
together, these technologies help to conserve
over 2 million gallons of water each year, prevent
overwatering, and concentrate the juice in the
grape, leading to a higher-quality wine.
“Vine stress (lack of available water) has been
linked to improved wine quality,” said Graham
Weerts, Winemaster at Jackson Family Wines.
“We are interested in imposing vine stress at
critical points in the growing year. Our use of
technology helps us to ensure that we are limiting
water at those critical times. By not over-watering,
we are improving wine quality and conserving a
valuable resource.”
In the late 1990s, Jess Jackson embarked upon
a program of constructing off-stream reservoirs
to capture and store water during high periods
of runoff for use later in the growing season.
“Reservoirs are very costly, but to protect fisheries
and other aquatic functions, we build them
with an eye toward minimal impact on other
resources,” according to Katie Jackson. “We’ve
been successful in the construction of reservoirs
to reduce environmental impacts and are working
with California agriculture groups to modify rules
on water storage, and develop a more adaptive
policy in connection with climate change goals.”
Additional vineyard water conservation
initiatives at JFW include:
• Applying water and plant nutrients
simultaneously during irrigation events to
increase efficiency.
• Investing in more than 100 new wind
machines to combat frost protection to save
water. Traditionally, water is used to prevent
the vines from freezing during bud break
as the grape growth cycle begins in winter.
The wind machines break up inversion layers,
bringing cold air up and out of the vineyards and
reducing the need for water to protect crops.
• A pilot project that measures the level of sap
flow activity through the vine to determine
when to water. This allows the plant to dictate
when it is thirsty and has resulted in an
increase in grape quality as well as a decrease
in water usage on the test block compared to
the control block.
• Another pilot project that uses a sophisticated
low-pressure geotextile fiber system for
sub-surface irrigation. The system reduces
evapotranspiration from traditional drip
irrigation and also spreads moisture across
a larger sub-surface area to reduce erosion
and encourage root growth. Expected
water savings from this trial are 30%+ versus
traditional drip irrigation.
GRAHAM WEERTS Winemaster at JFW
Our use of technology helps us to ensure that we are limiting water at those critical times. By not over-watering, we are improving wine quality and conserving a valuable resource.
continued »
Land UseLand stewardship has been a core value
at JFW from the beginning. Founder Jess
Jackson recognized that the quality of his wines
could only be as good as the quality of their
ingredients. That value of quality has been a
cornerstone of JFW for more than 30 years,
and has been the beacon that has helped the
company implement its progressive land
use initiatives.
Soil Management
Vineyards are a long-term investment, with plants
remaining in the ground for 25-30 years, or
even longer. Since the crops cannot be rotated,
JFW uses sophisticated methods to naturally
enhance soil, control erosion, and maintain a
healthy ecosystem. JFW intentionally designs its
vineyards to mitigate their environmental impact
as much as possible.
Native cover crops are used between rows to
fix nitrogen in order to aid soil regeneration and
erosion control. The cover crops also provide
habitat for beneficial predatory insects, which
minimizes the use of pesticides. The company
uses a pinpoint system to monitor and treat only
the areas in which a pest is present, rather than
spray entire vineyards, to minimize environmental
toxicity. Natural soil enhancements are also
employed to improve soil quality.
The company has also implemented extensive
drainage systems throughout its vineyards to
prevent soil erosion, and plant tissue analysis
is conducted to determine minimum fertilizer
requirements for each vineyard.
Biodiversity
JFW intentionally leaves two-thirds of its acreage
in its native state, using only one-third for
grape cultivation. The vineyards themselves are
tucked into pockets of trees and include riparian
corridors where falcons and owls naturally
control grape-eating birds and other pests,
and native species are encouraged to roam
unimpeded. Healthy ecosystems are encouraged,
and the company looks at how it can implement
conservation projects at each vineyard estate
to repair and enhance natural habitats, such
as stream restoration, endangered species
protection, and planting of native vegetation.
To date, the company has planted more than
5,500 trees.
DID YOU KNOW?
All JFW vineyards and wineries are certified sustainable by CCSW. To achieve this certification, sustainability procedures across all operations must be verified by a 3rd party auditor against a checklist of 227 best management practices, with a focus on continual process improvement.
continued »
Additional InitiativesAlthough energy, water, and land management
make up the core of JFW’s sustainability strategy, the
company has initiatives in several additional areas
including waste management, sustainable sourcing,
green building, and sustainable winemaking.
Waste Management
JFW has instituted a waste diversion program in
partnership with local recycling centers that allows
the company to recycle or reuse 98% of all materials
used on its bottling line. Recycled materials include
glass bottles, plastic wrap, and cardboard, while the
company also re-uses other materials, like pallets.
The company has also taken an innovative approach
to the repurposing of organic waste. Proprietor
Barbara Banke co-founded WholeVine, which has
developed innovative uses for grape waste in the
form of culinary products including gluten-free
flours, cookies, crackers, and grapeseed oil. Profits
from this company are donated to charity. Any grape
byproducts that cannot be reused by WholeVine
are composted.
Sustainable Sourcing
As part of its commitment to the highest quality wine,
JFW ages its wines in oak barrels, which are sourced
from a French stave mill. The family has ownership
in the mill; through their financial support, the local
economy has been revitalized and local artisanship
to produce the handcrafted barrels promoted. All the
oak used in the manufacture of the barrels is certified
by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest
Certification (PEFC), the leading agency of its kind.
Additional initiatives for sustainable sourcing for
the company include an Environmentally Preferred
Purchasing program for office supplies and paying
a price premium for grower partners who provide
certified sustainable grapes.
JFW SUSTAINABILITY BY-THE-NUMBERS
• $15 million: bottom line utility savings to date from energy efficiency initiatives
• 15%: overall reduction in energy consumption from 2008 baseline
• 51%: volume of GHGs reduced organization-wide per gallon of wine produced
• 4,000: number of halide fixtures replaced with high-efficiency lamps
• 41,276,255: annual green power usage (in kWh)
• 7: MW of onsite solar in development
• 11 million: gallons of water conserved annually
• 66%: acreage left in native state
• 5,500: number of trees planted on vineyard lands to date
• 98%: materials recycled or returned on bottling line
continued »
Green Building
The commitment to sustainability at JFW
extends to its buildings, and the company has
been involved in the construction of several
LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental
Design)-certified buildings.
The company built a state-of-the-art wine
storage and distribution facility. This 650,000 sq.
ft. building represents a new standard for green
building practices in northern California’s wine
country. It was the first refrigerated warehouse
in the nation to achieve LEED Gold certification.
The building is 38% more energy efficient than
a standard distribution center, saving more
than two million kilowatt hours of electricity
annually. It includes an automated motion
detection lighting system, a non-chemical water
treatment system, and a storm water detention
and filtering system. 85% of the waste generated
in the construction of the building was recycled
and the building contains low volatile organic
compound (VOC) paint, glues, and sealants.
JFW also built the nation’s first standalone LEED
Gold tasting room, the Murphy-Goode tasting
room in Healdsburg, California.
Sustainable Wine Making
JFW is committed to educating the next
generation of winemakers in sustainable
practices. To that end, JFW was instrumental
in the construction of the Jess S. Jackson
Sustainable Winery Building at the University
of California Davis (UCD). To date, the Jackson
family has donated nearly $4 million towards
developing this winery, which is a cutting-
edge example of sustainable winemaking. It is
powered by energy and water captured onsite
with a goal of becoming carbon neutral. It
contains nine different areas where sustainable
wine making technologies can be tested, and
includes a rain water capture system, a clean-in-
place system, and an onsite hydrogen fuel cell.
The winery demonstrates to UCD students best-
in-class commercial technologies in sustainable
wine making and the building provides a place
for students to test emerging technologies in a
realistic setting.
JFW consulted with UCD on the LEED features
of the new winery and provided financial support
through several grants. This partnership enabled
the university to achieve its goal: the Jess S.
Jackson Sustainable Winery is the first LEED
Platinum certified winery in the world and the
highest scoring LEED Platinum building at any
university. The winery is the most visited building
on the UCD campus.
KATIE JACKSON Director of External Affairs & Sustainability and Family Member
continued »
We worked with Dr. Roger Boulton at UCD, who envisioned a net zero winery that would allow the university to test game-changing wine-making technology. We’re very proud to have helped make that happen.
A Sustainable Future at JFWFuture-focused, multi-generational thinking
is what fuels sustainability and quality at JFW,
and the company has no plans to slow down its
commitments to living its values.
The company is exploring new technologies
including microturbines, additional onsite
electric vehicle chargers at its tasting rooms,
and an integrated energy management system
that will tie all energy efficiency gains made to
date and orchestrate energy demand in a way
that will allow cellar and vineyard managers to
monitor energy use in real-time.
In the next five years, the company plans to
continue to shrink its overall environmental
footprint, concentrating on reducing emissions
and water consumption, and increasing the
transparency and sustainability of its supply
chain. The company also intends to publish its
first sustainability report in 2015, complete with
a set of 5-year goals in five different impact
areas, including energy & GHG’s, water & land
conservation, supply chain & transportation,
community, and waste diversion.
“My father’s legacy is a world-class wine
company positioned not only to meet the
challenges of a resource constrained world, but
to lead the industry in sustainable practices,”
says Katie Jackson. “Our strategy will let us
continue to make great wine for years to come
and provide our customers with the quality
they have come to expect.”
JFW Sustainability Mission Statement
We invest in the health of our lands, quality of our wines, and well-being of our people and communities to cultivate a thriving future for generations to come.
www.jacksonfamilywines.com
© 2014 Jackson Family Wines, Santa Rosa, CA
The company developed a multi-pronged approach to addressing its impacts, based on three primary tenets: · sustaining our land · crafting our wines · advancing the field
JFW Sustainability Pillars
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