Vineyard Director Joseph Brinkley participates in Capitol Hill business convening to urge federal climate action, including a meaningful price on carbon
HOPLAND, Calif., May 22, 2019 — Today, Fetzer Vineyards joins more than 75 businesses including General Mills, Unilever, Levi Strauss & Co., Microsoft, PepsiCo, Exelon and Tesla to meet with a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers to call on Congress to pass meaningful climate legislation, including a price on carbon. Collectively, today’s Lawmaker Education & Advocacy Day (LEAD) on Carbon Pricing is the largest business gathering on the Hill to advocate for climate legislation in over a decade. Fetzer Vineyards’ participation underscores the vintner’s commitment to supporting national and international climate action through a variety of means, including lobbying Congress to enact far-reaching policies.
Standing Among U.S. Businesses for a Price on Carbon
The businesses participating in LEAD include 20 Fortune 500 companies as well as trade associations, medium and small businesses collectively representing combined revenues of more than $1.7 trillion, a combined market valuation of nearly $2.5 trillion and more than 750,000 U.S. employees. Fetzer Vineyards is standing with companies that span the American economy, including retail giants, manufacturers, oil majors, healthcare services, food and beverage companies, outdoors industries, technology companies and energy providers. A full list of business participants can be found here.
“At our winery, we’ve pursued practices for decades that minimize our climate impact from energy consumption, waste and more,” said Elizabeth Drake, regenerative development manager at Fetzer Vineyards. “Looking to the future, we recognize the need for policies that support bold action on climate, which is why we’re putting our voice behind a price on carbon in Washington this week.”
Putting Soil in the Spotlight
Joseph Brinkley, vineyard director at Fetzer Vineyards, and other business representatives are meeting one-on-one with lawmakers and congressional staff from both sides of the aisle in the House and the Senate to educate them on the economic impacts of climate change and the need for comprehensive and effective national climate policies. Hosted by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), these businesses will make the case for a strong and effective federal carbon price and share the private sector’s vision for comprehensive solutions to tackle climate change. When meeting with legislators, Brinkley will share details of the soil study recently conducted at Fetzer Vineyards’ Mendocino County vineyards, which highlights the climate benefits of regenerative agriculture and the positive relationship between soil and climate resilience.
Fetzer Vineyards actively supports clean energy and climate-smart policies at the state and federal levels and is a member of the Ceres Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP) Network. In California, the company recently advocated for Senate Bill 100, which commits state utilities to using 100 percent renewable energy by 2045. Fetzer Vineyards’ participation in this week’s LEAD activities supporting a price on carbon and other policy efforts complement a longstanding commitment to reducing impacts at the winery, which is now going beyond its doors to engage in meaningful opportunities to contribute to the global effort to slow climate change.
About Fetzer Vineyards
Celebrating over 50 years of acclaimed winegrowing, Fetzer Vineyards was founded in 1968 in Mendocino County, California. An award-winning purveyor of wines and spirits spanning multiple origins and available in more than 50 countries worldwide, Fetzer Vineyards is a leader in sustainable business practices, organic winegrowing, and craftsmanship in the cellar.
In addition to robust offerings under the winery’s flagship Fetzer label, the winery also crafts the leading wine from organic grapes, Bonterra Organic Vineyards, named American Winery of the Year by Wine Enthusiast magazine in 2016. Other California offerings include Adorada, Anthony’s Hill, Beckon, Relay, Sanctuary Wines and 1000 Stories, the original Bourbon barrel-aged wine. Part of global winery Viña Concha y Toro, Fetzer Vineyards imports iconic South American selections such as Chile’s most-acclaimed wine, Don Melchor, and the Cono Sur, Viña Maipo, Marques de Casa Concha, Casillero del Diablo and Frontera labels from Chile, in addition to Argentina’s Trivento Reserve. Recently, Fetzer Vineyards entered the ultra-luxury wine and spirits category by forging a partnership with Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. to sell its historic craft rye whiskey and Bourbon.
