More wineries going green

  Ten years ago, the big push in the Oregon wine industry was to encourage sustainable farming practices among vineyards. This led to the creation of the Low Input Viticulture and Enology program, which certifies vineyards that adhere to strict sustainable farming practices. Since then, LIVE has certified 137 vineyards in Oregon and Washington, comprising 4,629 acres of grapes.

Now the environmental focus has turned to the facilities where those sustainably grown grapes are processed. This year, LIVE extended its certification program to include wineries as well as vineyards.

"It's not just our vineyards anymore but the whole thing, from the grapes to the bottle," said Ted Casteel, the co-owner of Bethel Heights Vineyard.

Fourteen Oregon wineries have achieved the new certification, which takes into account water and energy usage as well as worker health and safety.

For instance, at Domaine Drouhin, solar panels generate power and the winery was built into a hillside on several levels so that gravity could be utilized to move wine from fermentation tanks to the barrel room, eliminating the need to use electric pumps, tasting room manager Mark Bosko said.

At WillaKenzie Estate Winery, everything that can be recycled gets recycled — even carbon dioxide.

The winery has figured out a way to capture the gas released during grape fermentation and reuse it to put air-tight seals on its tanks.

"It's not 100 percent efficient, but to the extent that we can do it, we do," owner Ronni Lacroute said.

In an effort to reduce the winery's carbon footprint and become more environmentally friendly, Lacroute asked her staff to think of creative ways to eliminate waste. Recycling carbon dioxide was her winemaker's idea.

"We're doing whatever we have thought of, but there's always something more we can do to fit in with the environment and be sustainable in every direction," Lacroute said.

WillaKenzie isn't alone. From collecting and recycling rain water to using recycled-paper labels to eliminating foil and corks from bottles, Willamette Valley wineries are responding to the call for sustainability by finding creative ways to reduce their impact on Earth.

Sokol Blosser Winery is in the process of getting audited to discover what its carbon footprint on the environment is and what it would take to become carbon neutral.

The winery already uses energy generated by wind power, and it produces about one-third of its annual power usage from 150 feet of solar panels on the property.

But there's more to sustainability than just reducing energy consumption. Sokol Blosser has made other changes in its operations as well, from eliminating disposable filter pads from its machinery to looking for lighter-weight wine bottles that will require less fuel to transport.

"From a processing standpoint, sustainability is about efficiency; it's about using less and becoming smarter in your uses," co-president Alex Sokol Blosser said. "Anytime you can gain efficiency, it's a win-win situation."

In many cases, the most efficient and environmentally friendly way to operate is to let Earth do most of the work.

When Ponzi Vineyards outgrew its old winery, it constructed a new facility last year with sustainability in mind. By building 80 percent of the new winery underground, Ponzi significantly reduced its need for energy usage.

"The ground helps control the temperature of the building, so there's no need for an H-VAC system," said Laurel Dent, the marketing and communications coordinator.

The structure also uses a gravity flow system for transporting fruit. Grapes enter the building at ground level and drop down to the fermentation floor. From there, the wine flows down to an even lower level to be aged in barrels.

Composting is another popular green tactic among wineries. At Montinore Estate, 600 to 800 tons of grape pomace and other waste products are composted every year.

"Local farmers around us bring their compost over. We're creating beautiful, natural compost piles to use in our vineyards," owner Rudi Marchesi said. "That used to be waste that had to be hauled away.

Vintners said that many of the changes they have implemented might seem small on the surface. But they agree that those small changes add up to a cleaner, greener wine industry.

"There's no magic wand in all of it," Marchesi said. "But all of our practices put together make a difference."