Blocking & Tackling of Biodiversity w/ Drew Bledsoe & Josh McDaniels, Bledsoe Wine Estates

XChateau Wine Podcast

Sustainability is just good business practice, according to Drew Bledsoe, former New England Patriots Quarterback and now founder and proprietor of Bledsoe Wine Estates, comprising three wineries in Washington and Oregon. Josh McDaniels, CEO, and Drew discuss their biodiversity initiatives in detail, as well as their people and packaging efforts, as part of their sustainability ethos. From improving quality to increasing customer loyalty, they believe taking a long-term view on sustainability proves it is a good investment.

Detailed Show Notes:

Drew’s background - grew up in Walla Walla, WA; NFL quarterback for 14 years; started Doubleback winery and now has 3

Josh’s background - also grew up in Walla Walla, worked at Leonetti for 10+ years, and worked with Paul Hobbs in Argentina

Sustainability is critical for wine because of the long-term, generational nature of the wine business

Biodiversity initiatives

• Built wildflower perimeter around vineyards - harbors beneficial insects, reducing mite infestations that happened when spring vetch growth dies
• Working w/ The Bee Girl Organization in OR to study amount and species of bees for regeneration farming
• Designed specific cover crop seed mix to attract more bees, improve Nitrogen in soil, have longer taproots to improve soil oxygen, and maintain water in the soil
• Moving to dry farming through the cover crop, no-till, and drought-resistant rootstocks

Easier to make investments in estate vineyards vs. contracted ones

Benefits

• The main goal is to increase wine quality
• Builds emotional connection with consumers - more about customer loyalty/retention vs. new customer acquisition
• Reduced spray expenses
• Reduced water costs

Consumers expect luxury wine to be environmentally responsible

An early leader of people sustainability - focused on vineyard crew five years ago w/ higher pay, year-round employment, and full benefits, leading to benefits of not having to rehire and retrain crew

Other sustainability initiatives

• Consolidating shipping across the country
• Installing solar panels at the winery
• Conscious of Doubleback bottle weight
• Reducing packaging
• Family Wine - currently bottled in 1L bottles that were meant for reuse, but issues around sanitization for reuse; now considered bag-in-a-box a la Tablas Creek
• Looking at sources products, including glass, closer to home vs. glass was from China previously

Sustainability for the wine industry - with a long-term view, sustainability is a good investment and good business practice

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