Waste Prevention through Competitions and Chocolate w/ Katie Jackson, Jackson Family Wines

Jackson Family Wines is at the forefront of many sustainability efforts as one of the world’s largest wine companies, with >40 wineries. Though they have made significant efforts in renewable energy, climate change, and social impact; they have also done a lot with waste prevention and green purchasing. Katie Jackson, a 2nd generation family member, leads these efforts to become more sustainable and describes some of the major programs they’ve undertaken.

Detailed Show Notes:

Intro from Anna Brittain of Napa Green

Only 30% of glass is recycled, and 30-50% of emissions are from packaging and distribution

Katie’s background - 2nd generation, worked in multiple departments but joined the sustainability team in 2011 after it was founded in 2008

JFW background

Founded in 1982 as Kendall Jackson
Invested in high-quality vineyards across the state
Founded Cambria (1986) and Stonestreet (1989), now >40 wineries (mostly CA, 3 Oregon, Chile, South Africa, France, Italy, & 2 in Australia)

Broad sustainability programs with four current focus areas:

Social impact, including DEI - has an internal team called “idea alliance” to develop new ways to improve diversity
Carbon/climate change - most difficult goals - 50% reduction by 2030, climate positive by 2050
Farming/regenerative farming
Water management

2015 - publicly released a comprehensive plan w/ 11 different focus areas, including Zero Waste and getting more growers to be sustainable

Sustainability investments and ROI

Invested $18.5M since 2015
Biggest spend in renewable energy (primarily solar - powers ~30% of winemaking needs, installing a new wind turbine which will generate ~5% of needs)
Generated $19.5M in savings and gov’t grants
Lightweighting of glass has saved $1M/year in glass and ~$500k/year in transportation
Solar initially had a 6-year payback
No set corporate threshold for sustainability investment ROI

Sustainability team

Two full-time staff
~80 people in 9 working groups volunteer ~3-4 hrs/month to work on sustainability initiatives

Green purchasing - developed preferred purchasing plan, looking at more environmentally friendly materials

E.g., the sales team is looking at biodegradable POS neckers made w/ seeds

Waste prevention - critical for climate change goals, focused more on wineries currently

Achieved <2% to landfill at wineries; the rest recycled and composted
Mostly organic materials (e.g., composting)
Sister company - Whole Vine - turns waste into nutrient-dense Chardonnay marc that is used for chocolate bars
Have not yet gotten certified Zero Waste due to cost, instead investing in other areas

Water conservation - since 2008, reduced water intensity/bottle by 43%

Created the “Water Wise Winery Award” competition to conserve water (2016)
Recycled water in cooling towers
Installed rainwater capture systems, 1st at Carneros Winery - 60% of water usage from system

Spreading sustainability practices