By Karl H. Kazaks
Photos by Glenn Fajota

When it comes to being “green,” it’s hard to imagine an industry more in sync with sustainable practices than the wine industry. After all, the key component of wine—grapes—is a natural product that must be harvested year after year. Sustainability is more or less built into a winery’s business model.

Yet, as Virginia’s wine industry has grown and evolved, many of its wineries and vineyards have learned that the more they become conservation-minded, the more it pays off, both in terms of lower operating costs and better wines.

Today, more and more wineries in the commonwealth are implementing environmentally responsible practices. They’re taking steps to preserve and enhance soil quality and biological diversity in the vineyards, while decreasing the use of chemical applications. In the cellars, they’re becoming more energy efficient, recycling more, and making numerous small steps that add up to big changes. The result for Virginia wine lovers are better tasting beverages that are better for the Earth.

The result for Virginia wine lovers are better tasting beverages that are better for the Earth

Compared to Virginia, it’s relatively easy to grow grapes in many of the world’s famed wine regions—Australia, Italy, Spain, California, the Rhone Valley, Bordeaux. That’s because of the climate in those locations; they tend to enjoy either hot, arid conditions or cooler temperatures combined with significant air circulation that prevents an extended build-up of moisture. Many diseases and pests that can be harmful to grape vines, on the other hand, require warm, persistently moist environments, like those found up and down the eastern United States.

Although Virginia’s climate presents challenges to grape cultivation, it doesn’t make it impossible to grow good grapes. It just means you have to work a little harder at it, than, say, in the Barossa Valley.

John Delmare of Rappahannock Cellars is aware of the challenges first hand. He moved to Virginia 15 years ago from California, where he operated Saratoga Vineyards. “In California,” he says, “you can be a gentleman’s farmer. In Virginia, it takes an extra attention to detail both to grow grapes and to grow grapes well.” As it turns out, many of the extra steps needed to grow grapes well in the commonwealth are also good for the environment.

Funguses are a big challenge for Virginia’s viticulturalists. “Wherever possible we use benign sprays,” says Tony Champ, owner of White Hall Vineyards. For example, to combat powdery mildew, White Hall sprays potassium bicarbonate rather than harsher, more toxic products.

Champ, like most vineyard owners, is sparing about treating his vineyards. “We don’t put on unnecessary sprays,” he says. He and vineyard owners across Virginia keep track of the weather and monitor the state of their vines to determine when treatment is necessary. They know each disease and pest requires a certain number of warm days to become active, with some also requiring a certain amount of rainfall, and they know which varieties are more susceptible to disease. They use targeted, precise treatment because they don’t want to waste time or money treating something that isn’t there.

Vineyard owners are likewise judicious when it comes to fertilizing. “I’ve always been very conscious to use soil and tissue testing to determine when fertilizer is necessary,” says Delfosse Vineyards and Winery’s Vineyard Manager Grayson Poats.

Another challenge in Virginia’s vineyards is managing vegetation between and underneath rows of vines. Too much vegetation can take away available nutrients and water from the vines, potentially to the detriment of the grape crop. At one time the solution was to plow between rows, or to use herbicides to completely eliminate vegetative cover between rows. Today, says Virginia Tech viticulturalist Dr. Tony Wolf, “It is now considered standard practice to have permanent vegetative cover” between vine rows. Those cover crops are usually kept in check through mowing.
At Linden Vineyards, the cover between some of the vine rows (depending on soil type and vine age) is a mix of creeping red fescue, clover and wildflowers. “It’s required a mindshift,” acknowledged Linden’s Jim Law, to view nature as a vineyard manager’s partner rather than an adversary. “Weeds went from being our enemies to being our friends,” he says. “You have to ask: ‘What damage do they do, versus the alternative of the damage done by controlling the weeds?’”

There are several environmental benefits to cover crops. They prevent erosion, thus maintaining soil and water quality. They build organic matter in the soil, which adds nutrients to the soil, potentially leading to healthier vines and better grape production. Cover crops also increase soil carbon sequestration, an important benefit to those concerned about atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and global warming. Cover crops can also encourage beneficial insects.

Delfosse Vineyards and Winery is going beyond row covers to build a reservoir of beneficial insects on its property. “We are working with the Wintergreen Nature Foundation to plant native flowers throughout the vineyard to attract beneficial insects,” says Claude Delfosse. By the end of this year they hope to have up to five different plots established. They are also working with the Virginia Bluebird Society on installing a string of bluebird houses.

“Bluebirds like to feed on insect larvae,” says Delfosse’s Poats.

They’re a good way to control leafhoppers and grape berry moths. Without them we’d have to use something more harmful to the environment. The whole idea is to achieve a more natural balance.”

At Jefferson Vineyards, the resident bird population is also welcomed. “They eat bugs like it’s going out of style,” says General Manager Chad Zakaib.

“The bottom line,” says Linden’s Jim Law, “is that increasing ecological diversity can be a good thing.”

Chris Pearmund of Pearmund Cellars agrees, citing the importance of working “in nature’s balance. We have healthy honey bees next to the vineyard, producing honey for their third year,” he says.

Another sustainable approach to vineyard management is the use of non-chemical fertilizers. At Pearmund Cellars, they use only organically based fertilizers on their 30-year-old vineyard. Many wineries compost their grape pomace—the stems, skins and seeds left over from crushing—and spread the resulting fertilizer in the vineyards. At Delfosse, there is even a flock of sheep to provide natural fertilizer to the vineyards. Vineyard Manager Poats plans on letting the sheep graze in the vineyards primarily during the vines’ dormant season.

Because each vineyard is unique, there is no one specific strategy that will maximize both optimal grape production and environonly are the climate and soils different between Virginia’s varied regions—the setting on the Eastern Shore is much different from that in far Southwest Virginia—but even within a particular vineyard, different sites have different characteristics. “Terroir’s not a concept,” says Linden’s Jim Law. “It’s a reality.”

For example, Rappahannock Cellars uses two different approaches to managing vegetative cover between vine rows. “I’ve got a rather vigorous block of Cabernet Franc,” Delmare says. “I put it on a taller trellis and let vegetation grow underneath the vines. The competition helps control the vigor of the vines.

“Conversely, I have some Seyval Blanc which is undervigored. For it, weed competition is not a good thing.” Since Delmare stopped using herbicides a few years ago, he keeps vegetation at a minimum in that block by mowing. This year he is also going to experiment with a handheld propane torch to incinerate unwanted vegetation.

A working group composed of a number of winery and vineyard owners and managers, as well as Virginia Tech’s Dr. Wolf, is currently developing a workbook to help vineyard managers assess their management practices.

“The workbook will help vineyard managers grade their practices against an ideal,” says Delfosse’s Poats. “We’ll use it as a guide to see where we can do better.”

“Compared to California,” says Rappahannock Cellars’ Delmare, “in Virginia, we have to manage our vineyards much tighter,” and in a more environmentally sensitive manner. “It’s not just that we think, ‘Gee, it’s a good thing to do,’ although it is. It’s also really important for our own long-term sustainability.”

Improvements in conservation are taking place in Virginia’s wineries as well as its vineyards. One of the biggest steps a winery can take to minimize its environmental impact is to improve its energy efficiency.

“Wineries need a tremendous amount of energy,” says Jefferson’s Zakaib. “But we can minimize the impact, and that’s the plan.”

Already, Jefferson Vineyards has beefed up the insulation in its cellar to reduce energy consumption by 15 to 20 percent per bottle of wine produced. This year, it is also initiating a plan to develop solar power at the winery, which, when complete, will cut the winery’s energy consumption by up to 90 percent. ‘It’ll be a multi-million dollar investment,” says Zakaib, “but it’ll pay off in the long run.”
It’ll pay off even though it means foregoing a vineyard. “The same things that make a site attractive for a vineyard—a south-facing exposure, a nice slope—also make it attractive for solar,” says Zakaib. “So we’ll end up sacrificing a potentially very good vineyard site to use for solar.”

Pearmund Cellars is powered in part by a geothermal energy unit that reduces the winery’s draw on the electrical grid to that of a house just half the size of the winery. “Reducing energy use,” says Chris Pearmund, “helps create a successful winery.”

Smart design can help a winery conserve energy even before the lights are turned on. When the winery at Pearmund was designed, every detail—the placement of the walls, windows, doors and overhangs—was considered, with the goal of minimizing the winery’s energy use.

Michael Shaps is excited about the design of the building that houses his new business. Established last year, Virginia Wineworks, a partnership between Shaps and Philip Stafford, is Virginia’s first custom crush facility, as well as home to the Michael Shaps and Virginia Wineworks labels. Situated on the site of the old Montdomaine winery, the business occupies a concrete building set into a hillside, with a sod roof. “In the summer the roof’s covered with wildflowers,” says Shaps. “It’s a beautiful sight.”

Because it is surrounded by earth (which provides exceptional insulation), the building maintains stable year-round temperatures and doesn’t require intensive climate control. The result is low energy consumption. (Virginia Wineworks does run fans in the humid summer months to prevent mildew.) “It’s a great design and structure,” says Shaps. “It’s built on Old World principles.” Shaps would know, as he is a partner in a winery in France (Shaps & Roucher-Sarrazin, Meursault), which utilizes two underground caves. Down the line Shaps hopes to install solar power at the winery.

Like Jefferson’s Zakaib, Shaps is well aware of the overlap between ideal vineyard location and alternative energy production. “There’s lots of potential for solar and wind in Virginia’s vineyards,” Shaps says. Air flow and air drainage are important factors in determining where to site vineyards in Virginia because they help prevent the stagnant conditions that can lead to disease. That air flow could also be utilized for wind power, and the sunlight required by vines could be utilized for solar power. Shaps looks forward to a time when viticulture and energy production are integrated in the same sites.

Virginia’s wineries are doing more than just installing alternative energy systems. In fact, some of the easiest ways to be energy efficient involve conservation. “If you save a little bit of energy on everything you do,” says Jefferson s Zakaib, “the cumulative impact is tremendous.
“We’re constantly striving to go about things the most efficient way possible,” he continues. “Simple things add up—like storing red wine barrels, which require warmer temperatures, along the southern side of the cellar, and white wine barrels on the cooler north side.”

At Delfosse Vineyards and Winery, they’re looking not only at their energy use but also their carbon footprint. Using a model developed in Australia specifically for wineries, the management team there is calculating just how much carbon they emit in the course of a year. Once the results are calculated, they will determine to what extent those emissions are offset by carbon-retention practices in the estate’s vineyards and forests. “We want to improve the sustainable practices here in every way we can,” says Delfosse.

That sentiment is held by many other wineries, as they scrutinize things as simple as the disinfectant they use in their cellars. Both White Hall Vineyards and Rappahannock Cellars have switched to using ozonated water to clean and disinfect the tanks, hoses, pumps, floors, and barrels in their cellars. This isotope of water (which has a relatively short half-life) is not as harsh as other cleansers. Rappahannock Cellars also uses ozone as an air purifier.

Recycling has become standard practice at many wineries. “We recycle everything,” says Jefferson’s Zakaib. “Glass, cardboard, paper—those are basic things but they make a difference.”

At Linden Vineyards, they now buy glass bottles in bulk, not packed in case boxes. “Most of our sales are at the winery,” says Jim Law, and not all sales add up to a case. “For years we had to get rid of a lot of case boxes. Now we buy just as much as we need.”

Linden has also switched from using heavy glass bottles to the lightest available, to avoid the energy cost associated with shipping heavy glass from place to place. “We used to use the heaviest glass available,” Law says. “The lighter bottles aren’t as sexy, but it just doesn’t make sense to use heavy bottles. Little things like that add up.”

At Jefferson Vineyards, the little things include utilizing downed timber. In 2003, when Hurricane Isabel came ashore, it knocked down large trees at Jefferson. “We had them milled into lumber,” says Zakaib, “and have used it in building and repair. We see it as a smart way of utilizing the bounty of the farm.” Virginia wineries have used salvaged timber not just by chance but also by design. Château Morrisette’s new winery, built in 1999, is one of the largest timber frame buildings in the United States made from salvaged timber. It contains 135,000 board feet of recycled Douglas fir.

The brand-new New Kent Vineyards, located between Richmond and Williamsburg, was built with about 70 percent reclaimed materials. Built by E. Taylor Moore, a Richmond contractor who specializes in reclaimed materials and has worked on historic structures such as Monticello and Montpelier, the winery utilizes materials from up and down the East Coast. There are 40-foot heart pine trusses from Richmond’s old Southern Railroad Station, timbers from a Connecticut thread factory that date back to 1852, more than 100,000 pre-Civil War bricks, and vintage granite thresholds and granite cobblestones. To see the structure is itself worth a visit to New Kent Vineyards.

All this work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is partnering with the wine industry to create a program to certify wineries that utilize green practices. DEQ already uses the program—Virginia Green, headed by Tom Griffin—to identify restaurants, golf courses, and lodging establishments which voluntarily meet certain core activities, which vary depending on the type of business involved.

Virginia’s consumers are taking note, too. “Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of how the wine they consume is made,” says Claude Delfosse.

Charlie Knight, of Vitis Virginia, a distributor of Virginia wines, agrees. “Consumer interest in Virginia wines is growing,” he says. “With the increased attention to locally produced food and beverages, and the growth of the slow food movement, people are looking for local wine—not something that has traveled internationally or across the county to reach them. Consumers have connected the dots and discovered Virginia wine.

“People aren’t interested in just an idea, though,” he adds. “They’re also interested in the quality of the products they consume; they’re looking for products with character and integrity. As Virginia’s wines have improved—and customers have recognized the quality that Virginia’s wines do offer—the fact that they’re being sustainably produced is an ever bigger selling point.”

“People want to hear that the companies they do business with are making efforts to be environmentally friendly,” says Rappahannock Cellars’ John Delmare. “We’re making that effort.” VWL

For more articles, see the June issue of Virginia Wine Lovers Magazine, currently available on newstands.