Case Studies

Left Coast Cellars

Thanks in part to large grant from the USDA and federal and state tax incentives, Left Coast Cellars recently installed two solar arrays totaling more than 82 kilowatts on their estate near Rickreall, Oregon, making it one of the largest solar panel installations in the Oregon wine industry. The solar panels provide all of the electricity required for the irrigation needs of their vineyards and landscaping, guest cottage and front gate and more than 60% of their winery and tasting room’s electricity. The solar panels save Left Coast Cellars more than $10,000 a year with an expected return of investment of seven years.

In addition to solar panels, Left Coast Cellars recently installed meters on their gasoline and diesel tanks, which allows them to accurately track and measure usage for specific jobs, such as tractor use in the vineyard. With this knowledge in hand, Left Coast has been able to reduce their gasoline and diesel consumption significantly, saving more than $3,000 in fewer than nine months.

—————————————————————————–

Mahonia Vineyards

Mahonia Vineyards uses a 16kW solar array to meet all of their electric needs: irrigation pumps, clubhouse power, and site lighting. For the last two years, their electrical costs have been the minimum monthly service agreement charge — $12.54 p/month. Mahonia’s vineyards are certified by Salmon Safe and LIVE and all of their farm equipment runs on locally produced biodiesel made from used cooking oil from restaurants in Oregon and Washington.

For more information, go to: www.mahoniavineyard.com

—————————————————————————–

King Estate Winery

King Estate owns what is recognized as the largest contiguous organically-certified vineyard in the world. With nearly 1,033 acres and 470 under vine, the King Estate vineyard is 100% dry-farmed and utilizes an extensive integrated pest management system to reduce fuel use in the vineyard. Approximately 550 sheep are used in certain vineyard blocks to replace tractors, a flourishing raptor program including nest boxes and predator perches provide an organic form of rodent/pest control, and 200-300 wild turkeys roam the property eating pests and fertilizing the vineyards.

For more information, go to: www.kingestate.com

—————————————————————————–

Willamette Valley Vineyards

In 2005 Willamette Valley Vineyards launched an employee biodiesel program, which offers 50 gallons of biodiesel to each employee, at no cost, to help reduce their carbon footprint.

Willamette Valley Vineyards became the first winery in the world to use sustainable cork stoppers certified by the Rainforest Alliance to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards. In 2009, they launched the consumer cork recycling program Cork ReHarvest, a cradle to cradle program implemented with zero carbon footprint increase. The program collects returned corks at Whole Foods Markets nationwide, restaurants, and other participants and remanufactures them into new products, such as shipping materials, flooring and shoe beds.

For more information, go to: www.willamettevalleyvineyards.com

—————————————————————————–

Winderlea Wine Co.

Winderlea Vineyard and Winery began with the goal of building a sustainable business. Right from the start, as they were planning the design of their Tasting Room, they chose to work with Ernie Munch, a Portland Based LEED accredited architect. While Winderlea did not pursue LEED certification, they employed many practices to enhance energy efficiency. The building has 12.97 kwh of Day Four solar panels on it’s south facing shed roof as well as solar hot water. The building is also designed with overhangs on the east side that eliminate direct sunlight during the height of the summer. That, combined with south facing garage doors that open, windows that open on the east side, mechanical windows on the north side at the top of the roof line, and fans create sufficient air flow to eliminate the need for air conditioning on all but the hottest days. In the winter, when the sun is lower, heat is captured by the mass of the concrete floor and released as the room cools. In addition, Winderlea may be the only winery in Oregon with a charger in their parking lot for electric vehicles. Recently, they have also replaced light switches with motion detectors to ensure lights are turned off, and changed the bottles they use for half their production to one that is almost 200 grams lighter in order to reduce the impact of shipping their wine.

For more information, go to: www.winderlea.com