Sokol Blosser Winery, Dundee Hills, Oregon, USA

A Natural Step Network Case Study

Overview
Sokol Blosser Winery, family owned and operated, is one of the pioneering vineyards in Oregon. The winery planted its first grapes in 1971 and produced its first vintage in 1977, bottling 3,000 cases. Currently Sokol Blosser has 15 full-time employees and employs up to 40 seasonal workers to help in the vineyard and the tasting room during harvest season. The winery now produces 40-50,000 cases of wine per year. Susan Sokol Blosser has run the business since 1991. Alex and Alison, two of her three children, now work with her.

Although the winery founders considered themselves environmentalists, they began by farming conventionally. In doing so, they tried to choose the most benign chemicals, but nevertheless used synthetic fertilizers and herbicides. Gradually, the founders have integrated their environmental values with their farming and business practices. Now, the winery is well on its way to having an organic vineyard and sustainable practices in all of its operations.

Connection with The Natural Step Framework
Susan Sokol Blosser had been one of the founders of the local chapter of Business for Social Responsibility in the early 1990s. Her BSR contacts led her to a workshop introducing The Natural Step (TNS) framework in April 1999. Blosser attended with her winemaker. “It was a real ah-ha,” Sokol Blosser said. “We could see how far we were from meeting the system conditions. Everywhere we looked, we could see things we were doing that weren’t sustainable. This really pushed us to look at everything we did through the lens of sustainability.””

Introduction of TNS framework into the Organization
After being introduced to The Natural Step framework, Sokol Blosser first educated her board. Once she secured their support, she began educating all the staff, partnering with Norm Thompson, an Oregon Natural Step Network Founding member. Norm Thompson invited Sokol Blosser to send its employees to the Natural Step trainings Jane Emrick conducted for Norm Thompson’s own employees. Over time, all the winery’s full-time employees were trained.

Being such a small organization, Sokol Blosser did not develop complicated processes to manage the winery’s sustainability efforts. “We carry around in our heads a list of things we need to do,” Blosser said. “We think about what we can do now, trying to do the easiest things first.” To get inspiration, employees consider what their major waste streams are and visit other wineries like Fetzer (Mendocino County, California), a model of sustainable wineries.

Sustainability is now part of their mission and embedded into their operations. “Whenever we do anything, TNS is just part of the consideration.” They sought organic products for their tasting room gift shop, such as organic cotton T-shirts. They choose high post-consumer content paper for marketing material and packaging. When they remodeled the tasting room, they sought to do it with sustainable wood, shelving, flooring, and paint, educating the contractor in the process. “We can’t always do everything we want. Sometimes, when the sustainable action is prohibitively expensive, we step back. Sometimes we decide we’re going to do it anyway.”

The first vineyard “ah-ha” occurred when Sokol Blosser was approached by the Pacific Rivers Council in 1996 to be the first winery to become certified as “Salmon-Safe.” Sokol Blosser never thought of its practices as saving salmon, but by preventing run-off, it was helping to contribute to this end. “This broadened my understanding of the implications of what we were doing. It was much bigger than just my little vineyard.”

Outcomes
Sokol Blosser Winery publishes a sustainability report for its staff and board of directors. It is made available to the public on its Web site, www.sokolblosser.com. Once its vineyard is certified as organic, all of its Pinot Noir wines will be made from organically grown grapes.

Pinot Noir wine is Sokol Blosser’s flagship product. Because Sokol Blosser purchases grapes from other vineyards for other wines, only 10-15 percent of its wines will be eligible for an organic label. Its accomplishments by category are listed below:

Company
· Has incorporated sustainability into its mission statement.
· Has three of the five board members driving hybrid vehicles.
· Has become a spokesman for sustainability, speaking at wine industry events, such as Oregon Pinot Camp.

Production
· Farms organically, using no synthetic chemicals or fertilizer. 2005 is the last year of organic transition, and full organic certification is expected in 2005.
· Uses 20 percent bio-diesel in vineyard tractors.
· Is part of the Prescott Western Bluebird Recovery Project with a dozen bluebird houses in the vineyard. It now has a small flock of about 25 bluebird residents that help to control insects.
· Recycles used engine and hydraulic oil from vineyard equipment and shrink wrap from bottling.
· Builds annual compost piles from grape stems and skins produced from crushing grapes at harvest, organic cow manure, and organic straw.
· Uses its compost and cover crops to build up the soil so that plants can feed themselves. Soil samples show significant microbial improvement from 2003 to 2004.
· Was the first vineyard to be certified Salmon-Safe when the program began in 1996
· Is certified by L.I.V.E. (Low Input Viticulture & Enology), an international sustainable certification program.
· Provides health care for seasonal vineyard employees through the Tuality Healthcare Foundation’s Salud Program.
· Uses no chlorine (one of the standard procedures) in winery sanitation.
· Constructed a barrel cellar that was certified by the US Green Building Council as LEED silver in 2002 It was the first winery in the nation to achieve this certification. This building cost significantly more to build, but its energy use has been estimated by the Oregon Department of Energy to be more than 50 percent less than a standard building.
· Purchases wind power through PGE (1167 kWh per month). This covers between 4% and 19% of total usage, depending on the month.
· Eliminated foil capsules to simplify packaging and eliminate a mined material.
· Continues to use cork, a renewable resource as the most sustainable wine closure.
· Required their label-printing company to use recyclable backing on pressure sensitive labels.

Tasting Room
· In the remodel used marmoleum flooring, no- and low-VOC paints, wheat board shelves, and FSC wood (Forest Stewardship Council certified).
· Uses unbleached paper products such as wine bags and bathroom towels.
Office
· Uses 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper for copier and fax.
· Has a paper recycling receptacle in every office.
· Purchased new desks and shelves from Herman Miller, known for its sustainable practices.

These accomplishments have been acknowledged by others. In 2004 Sokol Blosser was honored by Food Front Cooperative’s Board of Directors for its part “in creating sustainable community.” The winery was one of 38 recognized in 2004 by Portland General Electric and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation for its support of renewable power in Oregon. And Susan Sokol Blosser was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service from the University of Portland for business entrepreneurship within the context of sustainability and community service.

Lessons Learned
· Switching from traditional farming practices to organic takes time. “It’s like trying to move a patient who is on life-support (in this case, plants being force-fed fertilizer), to one that can live and eat on its own. If you try to do it all at once, the system can’t handle it, and you’ll have problems.” Similarly, switching from an unsustainable organization to a sustainable one must also happen slowly. “Over time, sustainability drills down, and you get new insights about what you must do.”

· Don’t expect your customers to pay more for organic or sustainability. “I don’t think most customers care right now. Maybe someday more will. We do it because it’s just who we are. As Jane Emrick said, ‘Once you ‘get’ sustainability, there’s no going back.’”

· Balance the cost of choices. Some things may save you money; some sustainable options will cost more. Try to balance these choices so that you are at least no worse off economically.

· It is critical to have the whole staff on board and willing to look at everything they do (at least at work) through the lens of sustainability. This takes not only sustainability training but also reinforcement and continuing education.

This case study was prepared in 2005 by Darcy Hitchcock, AXIS Performance Advisors, for the Oregon Natural Step Network.