Napa Green | Champion Story
Most wineries don’t pursue sustainability certification for marketing purposes. But, an increasing number of studies shows both consumers and trade value environmental stewardship and use this information in their wine purchasing and sales decisions.
Sustainability can help differentiate your wine and serve as a tiebreaker on the shelf. In one of their key Canadian markets, Jackson Family Wines recently tested the correlation between advertising their environmental commitment and sales. The result? A 19 percent sales increase simply by using bottleneckers with sustainability information. A 2017 study from Cone Communications offers additional support: of 1,000 U.S. consumers surveyed, 89 percent said they would switch to a brand associated with a good cause given similar price and quality.
In 2016, Wine Opinions surveyed 457 retailers, wholesalers, distributors and importers. More than 70 percent said that sustainable practices often or sometimes served as a factor in choosing a wine to market or sell to customers. When asked why, 72 percent said there is increased demand for sustainably produced wines; 71 percent said they personally care about sustainable or environmental attributes of wines; and 67 percent said sustainable production is a useful selling feature or attribute of the wine.
There is also growing evidence that wine consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products. A 2015 Nielsen Global CSR study found that more than 70 percent of millennials and 50 percent of baby boomers were willing to pay more for a socially or environmentally responsible product. In 2017, Sonoma State University surveyed 300 wine consumers and the majority indicated they would pay $1-3 more for a bottle of certified sustainable, organic or Biodynamic wine. Notably, economists at Washington State University recently analyzed 45,000 red wine ratings by Wine Spectator from 1989 to 2014 and found that Napa Green certified wines demanded a price premium of $4.40 a bottle.
Napa Green is a global leader in sustainable winegrowing, setting the highest bar for sustainability and climate action in the wine industry. Napa Green facilitates systematic soil to bottle certification for wineries and vineyards, and provides the resources, tools and connections to continuously level up leadership. In 2021, Napa Green was the first sustainable winegrowing program in the world to redevelop Vineyard certification standards to focus on climate action, regenerative carbon farming, and social equity. In 2022, Napa Green and community partners launched the first of its kind, six-event RISE Climate & Wine Symposium (formerly THRIVES) with over 65 leading speakers and 40 “Sustainable Services & Solutions” partners and sponsors.
