Company: Jackson Family Wines
BIER Working Groups: Water, Benchmarking
Connect with Julien Gervreau on LinkedIn and Twitter
Which of your company’s sustainability initiatives/achievements are you most proud of?
The one that comes to mind is our solar portfolio. We have over 7 megawatts of solar installed at 12 winery locations in California and Oregon. This represents the largest portfolio of solar PV of any winery in the United States, if not the world. In the grand scheme of things, we are not a large wine company. As a family owned company, the Jacksons see the long-term value of in investing in energy independence, energy efficiency, and renewable energy for a sustainable future. This is probably the most visible demonstration of that.
What is your favorite practical insight you have gained from being in BIER?
Being in a room with my peer group, as far as the folks who are working on sustainability and environmental issues within their organizations, and seeing that we are all, generally speaking, under-resourced in our various departments, yet so many of us are making tremendous progress—this has really helped crystallize this idea that working in the sustainability space, we have very little direct control over colleagues in other departments, but I think we do have a lot of influence. Spending time in the room with folks working in a variety of different beverage companies in a variety of different roles that are all focused on environmental issues, it’s understanding how you can exert that influence in a way that gets things done—I think that’s very powerful.
How has being in BIER shaped and/or enriched your sustainability strategy?
It’s been very helpful to know we are not alone and that there are other like-minded individuals in other organizations facing the same problems. We are one of the smallest BIER members from a volume and revenue standpoint, so getting to see some of the the big problems other larger beverage companies are facing and how they are taking an academically rigorous approach to addressing these issues—I’ve learned a lot from that.
What area(s) of BIER’s work and the Water and/or Benchmarking working group initiatives are you most interested in? Why?
Water, obviously. We grow grapes in the semi-arid climate of California and water is precious. I’ve been using the BIER water tool and it’s been very helpful in helping us identifying water risk and conservation opportunities. So, water is huge, but increasingly the areas of regenerative farming as well as carbon sequestration are both areas I’m interested in.
What’s one cool thing people might not know about you or your company?
Jackson Family wines is a portfolio of wineries and our flagship wine is Kendall Jackson, founded in 1982, and it’s been the number one Chardonnay in America for 26 years running. We continue to produce high-quality wine at a reasonable price point that multiple generations of consumers absolutely love.
About Jackson Family Wines
Jackson Family Wines is a premium portfolio of more than 40 wineries and estate vineyards across the globe. As a family business rooted in multi-generational winegrowing, we craft wines according to our values and make responsible decisions for the health of our lands and communities.
The Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) is a technical coalition of leading global beverage companies working together to advance environmental sustainability within the beverage sector.
By BIER [crp]