Best Practice Guide

Food and Beverage Growers and Processors

Fetzer Vineyard

J Vineyards and Winery

Mission Foods

S. Martinelli and Company

Sara Lee

Vineyard 29


Introduction

Planning an Energy Program

Funding and Approval

Commissioning

On-the-Farm Energy Use

Lighting

Building Envelope

Central HVAC System

Boilers

Steam

Combined Heat and Power

Compressed Air

Refrigeration

Motors

Demand Response

Distributed Generation

Water Use


View the Glossary

Case Study

Fetzer Vineyard

Printer-friendly version

Share your thoughts

Location: Hopland, Mendocino County
Type: winery and vineyard
Size: 10,000 sq. ft. administrative building, 130,000 sq. ft. of barrel storage, 140,000 sq. ft. bottling warehouse, and a tank farm.
Built: 1996

Company Website: http://www.fetzer.com

Company Information
Fetzer Vineyards is one of the largest premium wine producers in the United States and the largest grower of organic grapes along California's North Coast. 100 percent of Fetzer's 2,000-farmed acres are certified organic, eliminating pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. Fetzer produces nearly 4 million cases of wine from 11 types of varietals, which are sold all over the world.

Photo courtesy of Fetzer Vineyard.View Details.

Fetzer operates two wineries: its main production site and administrative headquarters in Hopland, California and a second site built in the early 1990s in Paso Robles, California. Hopland has 11 million gallons of steel storage capacity, seven grape crushers, and an annual fermentation capacity of 35,000 tons. The winery is designed with separate temperature controlled areas for fermentation and bottling, as well as a 600,000-case storage center.


Corporate Philosophy
The Fetzer family and Paul Dolan, who would become Fetzer's president, adopted sustainable business practices as early as the mid-1980s. By 1998, Fetzer had firmly established a triple bottom line: economic vitality, environmental responsibility, and social equity. More recently, Fetzer announced that by 2010 it would only purchase organic grapes (Fetzer's own acreage is already organic).

From 1999 to 2004, Fetzer's efforts have saved roughly 1 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. Fetzer has also reduced water consumption over the same time period by 24 percent or 6.6 million gallons, and has reduced waste to landfills by 95 percent.


Building Envelope
When Fetzer moved to Hopland, California in the late-1990's, then-President Paul Dolan decided to construct the greenest administrative building possible. The resulting 10,000 sq. ft. building uses passive solar design and rammed-earth construction to minimize the need for mechanical systems while taking advantage of free daylighting and natural ventilation. Designers calculated the best solar orientation, and pre-wired the building for a photovoltaic system that would be later installed.

Fetzer has undertaken many other energy efficiency measures across its facilities. A simple insulated concrete wall, for example, was constructed to separate cold stabilizing wine from warm-fermenting wine, reducing energy bills by $5,000 per month.


Refrigeration
Refrigeration is the largest electrical load for any winery, making it Fetzer's first and primary focus for energy efficiency.

Compressor controls

Aerial view of S. Martinelli & Company and the surrounding area in Santa Cruz County. Photo courtesy of S. Martinelli & Co.View Details.

Fetzer has 1200 horsepower (hp) of compressor motors available for cooling white wine, which is stored in tanks. To make these run more efficiently, Fetzer installed programmable logic controls (PLC) that monitor the refrigerant for temperature and pressure. The controls use this data to cycle compressors on/off as needed, decreasing runtime of both the compressors and chilling tower pumps. Since runtimes are reduced, maintenance needs are also lower and the useful lifespan of the compressors is increased.

The PLC resulted in annual energy savings of over 225,000 kWh and cost savings of nearly $30,000. Maintenance costs were reduced, too, by about $4,000 per year. PG&E provided a $28,000 rebate for this project, helping to make payback on Fetzer's investment in just over three years.

Tartrate removal
White wines are normally cold stabilized to remove tartaric acid, requiring sustained temperatures of 26º F for two to four weeks at a time.

However, a small portion of Fetzer's white wines employ an innovative technology, known as electrodialysis, to remove tartrates. The process, known as Selective Tartrate Removal System (STARS), works by moving micro-layers of wine between two membranes that are selectively permeable; one to tartrate species, and the other to potassium and calcium. A water-based conductant flows past the other side of each membrane. A weak electrical field attracts the tartrate salts and moves them through the membranes. As the salts cross the membranes, they are carried off by a conductant solution, which is discarded. The wines are then ready for bottling.

According to Patrick Healy, environmental manager at Fetzer, "We've been renting the services of Winesecrets for the past three years to help test this for both Winesecrets and the larger wine community. Electrodialysis consumes about 20 percent of the energy of refrigeration - we're doing accurate measurements this year for the Energy Commission about actual reductions made."

During the 1990s, the French National Agronomic Research Institute, in concert with Eurodia Industrie, developed this process. Since then, Eurodia has installed over 30 units in France, Italy and Spain. In California, Winesecrets provides both stationary equipment as well as a mobile service to help wineries interested in STARS.

Heat Exchanger
White wines are cold stabilized at very cold temperatures, as low as 26º F. After the tartrates are removed, wine is then ready for bottling. However, wine temperatures are still around 30º to 40º F. Healy explains, "The temperature of the wines needs to rise in order for labels to adhere successfully to bottles. Current practices {to do this} involve too much water and too much natural gas for heating water."

After researching options, Fetzer decided to install a high-efficiency heat exchanger. Traveling in pipes between the wine production area and the pre-bottling area, wine comes in contact with the heat exchanger, which quickly warms wine to around 50° F, the optimal temperature for placing labels.

Previously, Fetzer spent almost $8,000 per year on natural gas for the boiler to provide hot water for warming wine tanks. With the heat exchange system, Fetzer pays only $2,500 for natural gas and saves 700 million Btus per year. Fetzer also saves $1,500 on reduced boiler maintenance. The new system has sped bottling lines by 20 percent, yet results in fewer label misplacements. Fewer shifts are needed to produce the same amount of wine, resulting in labor savings of $48,000. Less reworking of labels reduces waste, and saves about $11,000 annually on materials. The total savings from the project are $76,500; simple payback for this investment is slightly less than 1 year.

The heat exchanger also saves water by recirculating it over pipes several times before sending it to the wastewater system. The old system allowed water to pass along the sides of the wine tank only once, running thousands of gallons of hot water down the sides of wine tanks before sending it to wastewater runoff reservoirs. Recirculating hot water in the new system reduces the amount of water that has to be pumped, treated and disposed of and has led to savings of over 1,000,000 gallons of potable water and $11,000 in costs.


Water Efficiency
Although the industry average is up to use eight gallons of water for every gallon of wine produced, Fetzer's water-saving strategies have reduced their consumption to only 2.1 gallons for every gallon of wine.

Meters and usage tracking
Fetzer's first step was to install meters on its three water wells and in each building. Meters are read weekly, helping to show where water is used and to alert workers if spikes in usage occur. Fetzer is now able to find and repair major leaks, resulting in substantial savings. Fetzer also installed water-efficient nozzles and heads on hoses and jet-sprays.

Minimizing chemical treatments
Fetzer introduced an ultraviolet filtering system that eliminated the use of chlorine to treat on-site well water.

Natural filtration of wastewater
Wastewater ponds were converted into a natural system that employs gravel, sand filters, and a planted reed bed. Low energy aeration takes place with sprinklers instead of energy-intensive equipment. The treated water is reused to irrigate the winery's organic grapes (before fruit appears) and landscaping. Absolutely no discharge is released to the Russian River. This project was jointed developed with University of California, Davis.


Distributed Generation and Renewable Energy
Not only is Fetzer committed to energy efficiency, it also tries to make its energy supplies as green as possible. Fetzer is the only winery, for example, purchasing 100 percent renewable (green) electricity in California.

Photovoltaics
A 41-kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic (PV) system provides enough electricity to produce 1.2 million bottles of wine annually. The PV system powers 75 percent of the administration's building electric needs, and feeds any excess power back to the utility grid (net metering). PVs generate the most electricity on sunny mid-summer days, coinciding with statewide peak demand for power - allowing Fetzer to "give back" when the community needs it most.

Over the 25-year lifetime of the photovoltaic system, it will reduce an estimated 850 lbs. of nitrogen oxide and 1088 tons of carbon dioxide - the equivalent effect of planting 375 acres of trees or eliminating 4 million miles of drive time.


Additional Activity
As a leader in organic farming and sustainable best practices, Fetzer makes the time to share its lessons learned with the broader farm and food processor community.

Peer-to-Peer Education
Fetzer partnered with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL) to develop the computer-based Benchmarking and Energy and water Savings Tool (BEST), which helps more than 1,000 wineries in California better understand and manage resource use. Researchers developed a model for a reference winery with state-of-the-art, commercially available energy and water saving control technologies that was based on Fetzer's actual performance data and operations.

Fetzer supports the efforts of the California Sustainable Winegrowers Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying and disseminating sustainable best practices for wineries and winegrape growers. Fetzer also established Club Bonterra, an organization of Fetzer grape growers dedicated to sharing information about sustainable farming practices.

Fetzer employees regularly speak at industry meetings and conferences, sharing with peers tips and tools for reducing energy and water consumption. Fetzer employees also contribute to countless articles on sustainable practices.

Fetzer frequently partners with research institutions and government agencies, such as the University of California and the California Energy Commission, to demonstrate new innovations in processes or equipment.

Recycling & Composting
In 1997, Fetzer Vineyards was recognized as one of the top ten recycling companies in the state. As part of this effort, Fetzer has created a large composting program that incorporates all of the stems and seeds from the winery's crushed grapes, known as pomace. This material is composted for more than a year then spread throughout the vineyards as natural fertilizer. These efforts reduce energy use by reducing waste, therefore limiting the power required to dispose of waste both on-site and off-site in the greater community.

Fetzer uses 40 percent recycled glass in its bottling production and all case boxes are made of 100 percent post-consumer waste. Fetzer also purchases corks in bulk directly from producers in Portugal; because corks are shipped in a container direct to the winery, no excess packaging is required.