Sustainability is an ongoing journey for us at Kendall-Jackson, and while we are looking forward to getting a jump on all the great projects we have planned for 2015, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on how far we’ve come in our quest to craft the highest quality wines with minimal impact on our environment and communities. In collaboration with Renewable Choice Energy, our renewable energy certificate (REC) provider, we developed a case study to document our progress to date.

A Few Highlights from the Case Study:

• Beginning in 2012, we have focused on developing more onsite solar electricity generation. By the end of 2015, we will have installed 7 megawatts (MW) of solar electricity across 9 of our sister wineries which is enough energy to power 1,400 California homes! This will make us the largest solar producer in the wine industry and will offset ~50% of our companywide electricity usage.
• Since 2008, we have reduced the baseline water use in our wineries by 49%. Each year since, we have saved nearly 9 million gallons of water. This is equivalent to 180,000 bathtubs full of water!
• We always aim to reduce or reuse materials used during our production processes, and as such, 98% of all materials used on our bottling line are recycled or returned.

The story isn’t over. We are proud to announce that as a next step, we will be publishing our first ever Sustainability Report this spring to build upon this case study and to share our goals and progress moving forward.

What exactly is a Sustainability Report?

A sustainability report shares information about an organization’s economic, environmental, and social impact performance. This reporting helps companies measure, understand, and communicate their sustainability efforts in addition to setting goals for continuous improvement for the future.

Why does any of this matter?

We will be able to fully understand our impacts as an organization, with a particular focus on water, energy, waste, transportation, and social/community, and hold ourselves accountable towards achieving 5-year goals in these various impact areas. We will then be able to share our progress towards achieving these goals, and take credit for all of the hard work we commit to each year.

This report will help create transparency in the steps we are taking towards greater company sustainability and will allow us to share our progress towards meeting our goals with those who interact with our business year after year. This story is important to folks who buy and drink our wine, like you! Furthermore, this story is a core part of our family business and our legacy. We look forward to sharing our progress with you and for all of the great things ahead. Stay tuned!

-Sabrina Sihakom, Sustainability Coordinator