Whole Life Times: Fetzer Vineyards

May 2005 | Conscious Business

Fetzer Vineyards

Organic and Sustainable

by Deborah Behrens

Fetzer Vineyards is one of the largest growers of certified organically grown grapes in the world. The company’s dynamic president, Paul Dolan, is a leader in promoting sustainable grape-growing practices, a concept he documented in True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution (Bloomberg Press).

In 1991, Fetzer introduced the Bonterra label, one of the first mass-marketed organically grown wines. With all 2,000 Fetzer-owned vineyards already certified, Dolan has pledged that its 150 grower-partners will be certified by 2010.

WLT: You’ve said that the conversation about sales and profits is one of the most developed ones on the planet [but] that we need to insert a conversation about sustainability.
Paul Dolan: As a world of corporate entities, we’ve developed a very strong language for profits and moneymaking. We’re running into integrity issues in corporate America because we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s appropriate and not appropriate in service of making money. The planet needs us to do it differently. That’s why we’ve come up with this model of sustainability where you look at environmental as well as social questions.

You have a sustainability team called E3: environment, economics and equity.
The “triple bottom line.” We measure ourselves in these areas and challenge ourselves to achieve goals within them. Just as we have financial goals, we also have environmental and social goals, such as new programs for employees or the communities in which we do business.

Consumers are willing to pay double or triple the price for organic produce, but won’t do the same for organic wine. What are you doing to shift that way of thinking?
A lot of consumers see wine as coming from this bucolic place where everything’s clean and pristine. They couldn’t even imagine that there would be chemicals used on those vineyards. I don’t know how we can change that other than by presenting and differentiating the product.

Your decision to grow organically seems to have emerged more from your own sense of integrity than from a desire to simply create a better product.
It’s more than making wine. It’s a real connection to, and stewardship of, the land.

Deborah Behrens wrote WLT’s 3/04 cover story on organic wine, and is co-author of the upcoming book, Guts and Grace: Actresses at Midlife and Beyond.

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