FORMER APPLE PLANT TRANSFORMED INTO SUSTAINABILITY MODELGRATON – In five years, Sonoma Wine Co. has transformed a 60-year-old west Sonoma County apple processing plant-turned-winery with a soured environmental reputation among neighbors into a showcase for energy- and water-efficient winemaking.
Through a series of maintenance projects and major upgrades, the North Coast’s largest custom winemaking operation has enjoyed dramatic reductions in electricity, natural gas and water use, according to President Dennis Carroll.
Derek Benham acquired the Associate Vintage Group facility at 9119 Graton Road in 2003, creating a custom winemaker and Purple Wine Co., which produces branded wine. “A big hope for Sonoma Wine Co. is that we will be a zero-energy user and a zero-water discharger to our ponds,” Mr. Carroll said.
Though total usage has increased as the company has expanded production from 1 million cases in 2003 to 2.6 million 9-liter cases of wine expected this year, per-case usage has fallen. Because of the upgrades, refrigeration capacity didn’t have to be increased even though Sonoma Wine Co. increased wine storage in tanks by 14 percent to 1.36 million gallons and in oak by 48 percent to 45,153 barrels.
Average power use dimmed 28 percent from 2006 to 0.637 kilowatt-hours per case. In that time water use drained by about 35 percent to 2.75 gallons per case for washing presses, floors, barrels and tanks. Wastewater created dropped 22 percent to 3.14 gallons per case since 2005. In the same period, the amount of natural gas consumed fell 60 percent to 0.010 therms per case.
Using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s metric for calculating how these savings would translate into reduced emissions of carbon dioxide, Sonoma Wine Co. has cut its “carbon footprint” by 436 metric tons, or the equivalent of taking 72 cars off the road. In 2006 the company pledged at an EPA Climate Leaders event to reduce its emissions by 15 percent by 2010.
The efficiency upgrades resulted in $187,292 in Pacific Gas & Electric rebates for reducing usage by 2 million-plus kilowatt-hours of electricity and 50,000 therms of natural gas.
The wine business has been embracing environmentally conscious business practices. Three-quarters of the vintners who responded to the 17th annual U.C. Davis wine industry trend survey, released in September, said their customers wanted “sustainably farmed” wine, and all but 8 percent of the remainder indicated their consumers were somewhat interested.
Three upgrades have made a significant impact on Sonoma Wine Co.’s water usage and reduced the amount of wastewater going to treatment ponds on the 10-acre site. A new automated barrel-washing system captures the final rinse water from one barrel to use for the first rough rinse on the next barrel, cutting water use by 33 percent.
Sterilization on the bottling line is being converted from hot water to steam, which requires more electricity during off-peak hours but is estimated to reduce daily water use by an average of 1,700 gallons.
A new wiped-film rotating disc evaporator for treating process wastewater is being tested and could allow the winery to reuse 2,300 gallons daily for cleaning tanks and barrels. The rest could be of high enough water quality to empty into storm drains rather than the treatment pond.
Sonoma Wine Co. is awaiting permits to install a 30,000-square-foot canopy over its wine tanks to help with storage operations as well as diverting an estimated 1 million gallons of rain water annually to storm drains rather than the treat-ment pond. Photovoltaic panels could be installed on the canopy eventually.
Other sustainability upgrades included:
• Insulation on 50 wine tanks, on the glycol refrigerant tank and on hot-and-cold supply lines
• Substitution of gycol cooling for traditional Freon air-conditioning
• Replacement of a 1920s boiler with computerized 87 percent-efficiency water heaters and installation of a hot water storage tank
• Swapping metal halide lighting with high-efficiency T-5 fluorescent fixtures and tubular skylights
• Application of reflective, insulating foam roofing
• Changing compressor and pump motors with more energy-efficient variable-speed versions
“All these projects have allowed us to obtain county permits to increase production and have a reduction of expenses along the way,” Mr. Carroll said.
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