Pushing the Eco Envelope

Oregon Wine Press’s Editor, Michelle Francisco, is committed to including sustainability content in every issue. I’m honored to be allowed to help - and here’s the latest effort. This was a really fun piece to report and write.

See the edited version on OWP's website - with more pictures - here

Remy drabkin of remy wines / the biofiltro system / carlo mondavi of monarch tractor

LIVE Certified.  Salmon-Safe.  Organic.  Biodynamic.

Wine drinkers often see these words on Oregon wine labels.  And increasingly, they are looking for them.  According to the 2022 Business of Sustainability Index by GreenPrint, a PDI company, three-quarters of Americans are concerned about the environmental impact of the products they buy. Over two-thirds (69%) say a product’s environmental friendliness is important to their purchasing decision.  For wine consumers, sustainable practices may at first seem to be limited to vineyard farming practices like avoiding the use of chemicals.  But some Oregon wineries are creatively expanding their sustainable practices in ways you may not have imagined.

Concrete that Sequesters Carbon

Last summer, Remy Wines, in Dayton, converted a tractor barn into a wine production facility. “What was really important to me was to be able to do it as sustainably as possible,” said owner Remy Drabkin.  Her plan included re-purposing on-site materials and designing the roof to collect rainwater.  But fabricating a strong concrete floor for the 5000-square-foot facility presented a special challenge.

Concrete has been called one of the most destructive materials on earth and is responsible for between seven and nine percent of the earth’s carbon dioxide emissions. Drabkin partnered with contractor John Mead, of Vesuvian Forge in McMinnville, who uses sustainable concrete to craft countertops and firepits.  Drabkin recounted, “When I contacted him about doing this project, he said, ‘Do you want to try to make carbon-neutral structural concrete with me?’ And I mean, why would you say no? And so we set out to do it.”

The partnership resulted in the Drabkin-Mead concrete formulation that uses biochar in place of some of the aggregates commonly used to make concrete.  Biochar is a carbon-negative material made from pyrolyzing organic waste from almost any source and is used in a number of industrial applications.  Carbon neutrality is achieved by reclaiming waste material, thus sequestering its carbon, and by the reduced use of conventional concrete inputs.

Other collaborators on the project were Wilsonville Concrete, LaFarge Labs and BioForceTech from the Bay Area.

Since she is also the Mayor of McMinnville, Remy Drabkin imagines the new concrete formulation playing a role in larger systems of sustainable architecture. “Demanding carbon neutrality into the built environment is kind of widely recognized among environmental leaders as what will bring us back from the edge of climate change,” she said.

A (Water) Can of Worms

A glass of wine is between 80 and 90 percent water.  But wine’s water “footprint” is far larger due to the amount of water used in its production.  Irrigation is necessary in many vineyards and water is used in sprays to control vine pests and diseases. In the winery, water is used to clean fermentation vessels, prepare barrels, sanitize equipment and in the bottling process.  It all adds up. According to some estimates, as much as 172 liters of water go into producing one glass of wine.

Abbott Claim winery in Carlton has enlisted earthworms in its effort to clean and reclaim winery wastewater.  The system, patented by the firm BioFiltro, sends the water through a layer of woodshavings, where the earthworms quickly digest winemaking’s leftover sugars, skins and organic contaminants.  The worms leave behind water that is cleaner than required by Oregon law, according to Mai Ann Healy, Chief of Impact and Sustainability Officer for BioFiltro. This clean water is then available to be used in other ways.

The system is contained in a re-purposed shipping container.  Over time, the worms also generate castings (their own waste), which is a nutrient-rich fertilizer that can be used to build vineyard soil. “It's a renewable resource,” said Heath Payne, Abbott Claim’s Viticulturist.  “We're not degrading one renewable resource to get another renewable resource… it's something that's very simple and natural and pretty easy to incorporate.”  Payne also noted that the system is easy to maintain and economically sustainable.

BioFiltro has installed systems at wineries, dairies and food processing plants in several states, but the one at Abbott Claim is the first at an Oregon winery.  That may change, however, as consumers continue to demand sustainable practices and the changing climate heightens drought concerns.  “We're doing this whole circular approach that embraces zero waste,” says BioFiltro’s Mai Ann Healy.   “We're getting a couple of wineries now that are purchasing us for that reason, more so than wastewater treatment.”

Emission-Free Tractor

By now everyone is used to seeing electric cars on the road.  But electric tractors in the vineyard?  The first in Oregon are expected to arrive later this year at Nicolas-Jay Estate in Newberg and at Ponzi Vineyards in Sherwood.

The Monarch MK-V is an electric, driver-optional smart tractor built in Livermore, Calif., where Silicon Valley and that state’s wine country meet.  Founded in 2018, the company is led by four founders who bring a wealth of engineering and farming experience to the goal of rethinking the tractor.

Carlo Mondavi, Monarch’s Chief Farming Officer and a fourth-generation winegrower, envisioned an emissions-free tractor as a way to encourage regenerative farming and eliminate the use of herbicides and powerful chemicals in vineyards.  He met the company’s other three founders through a mutual friend.  All four men share a passion for changing the world for the better.  “We all share very different skill sets and have a lot of overlap and an incredibly bright team,” he said. “It's just the perfect amount of ‘chefs in the kitchen’ to have this mission be successful.”

After extensive testing at the Wente Family vineyards in California, Monarch tractors are now in use at Constellation Brands, one of the world’s leading beverage producers.

In addition to the obvious benefit of zero tailpipe emissions, a smart tractor reduces vineyard labor costs by performing pre-programmed tasks without a driver or in driver-optional mode.  It can also monitor crop data and can even provide the bonus of a powerful electric generator in the field.  The acquisition cost is competitive with well-equipped diesel tractors because Monarch uses stock tractor parts alongside sensors and cameras that have become less expensive through adoption by the electric auto industry.  Added return on investment comes from reduced skilled labor costs, the elimination of the need for diesel and fossil-fuel-based chemicals, and lower maintenance costs.

Jay Boberg, a cofounder of Nicolas-Jay vineyard, said, “people don't focus on how many tractor hours are run in a vineyard, or any kind of farming situation. Diesel is just not our friend overall, in terms of emissions.”  Boberg comes to farming from a career as a music industry entrepreneur, having founded I.R.S. Records and later serving as president of MCA Records.  In all these endeavors, he said it is important to be “conscious of not just what it is you're creating, but the impact that what you're creating can have on people and society.”  That consciousness extends to his vineyard practices where he seeks to try new things like the adoption of the Monarch tractor, “to push the envelope… on quality, as well as push the envelope on responsibility, you know, social responsibility, environmental responsibility.”