It is critical that we take an integrated, whole systems approach to sustainability and climate action. When you save water you save the energy to transport, heat, and treat that water, reducing costs and emissions, and helping to address one of the most critical issues of our changing climate: water availability.
Erica Löfving, Chief Sustainability Officer with Vintage Wine Estates, will lead this Salon conversation. Jay Famiglietti, Global Futures Professor in the ASU School of Sustainability and former Senior Water Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will share the 10,000’ perspective on California’s water and energy future, including water recycling. Matt Crafton, winemaker and de facto environmental manager at Chateau Montelena Winery, and Jason Moulton, winemaker at Whitehall Lane Winery, will share their best practices and innovations around energy and water efficiency, and the resource reliability and cost benefits of these practices.
Erica Landin-Lofving is a native of Sweden but has lived and worked in France and Germany. A stint as a harvest intern 10 years ago set her on the path to settling in sunny Santa Barbara to lead sustainability at Vintage Wine Estates. In addition to running sustainability and public ESG reporting for the group, she engages heavily with operations on environmental and social initiatives in viticulture, winemaking and packaging.
Erica has MSc in Biology and a broad background spanning from finance, international wine journalism (featured in Decanter, Condé Nast and The Wine Enthusiast), and as a sustainability consultant (including Systembolaget and the ICA grocery retail group). She never stops learning and has continuing education from UC Davis (viticulture and winemaking), UC Berkeley (Sustainable strategy and ESG), and Harvard (Sustainability Leadership), as well as being a certified ESG financial advisor. While she loves digging into numbers and solutions for water and energy use, her main message to Napa vintners is this: ditch the heavy wine bottles
Jay Famiglietti is a Global Futures Professor in the School of Sustainability, in the College of Global Futures at Arizona State University. He is Professor Emeritus from the University of Saskatchewan, where he was Executive Director of the Global Institute for Water Security, and where he held the Canada 150 Research Chair in Hydrology and Remote Sensing. He is currently advising the Silicon Valley tech startup, Waterplan, after serving as its founding Chief Scientist. Before moving to the University of Saskatchewan, he was Senior Water Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology; he was a professor in Earth System Science and in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Irvine; and he was a professor in Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.
Famiglietti and his research team use satellites to track changing water availability, and they pioneered the methods to detect groundwater depletion from space using the NASA GRACE mission. They have been working for many years towards improving hydrological prediction in climate models like those used in the IPCC. This work has driven Famiglietti’s interest in corporate water sustainability and stewardship, innovations in financial tools and data-driven reporting platforms, and international water diplomacy.
He is a former Chair of the Board of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI), a former Editor-in-Chief of Geophysical Research Letters, and he has been a Visiting Professor at Stanford University and UCLA. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and of the Geological Society of America, a recipient of AGU’s Hydrological Sciences Award, and a Distinguished Alumni of Tufts University.
Prof. Famiglietti is committed to science communication. He is regular advisor to state, provincial, U. S., Canadian and world leaders on regional and global water issues, he appears as a featured expert in television and film, and he hosts the podcast “What About Water?” He and his research group have published numerous papers and reports, and their work has been featured in major international news media.
Matt Crafton leads the production team as Winemaker at Chateau Montelena. He not only oversees all production and operations, but also plays a critical role in strategy, education, and technology at the winery.
With a sense of determinate optimism and the need to further engage his right brain, Matt leaned away from a career in finance after earning a degree in Economics from the University of Virginia in 2003 and instead was drawn to winemaking. Starting at the very bottom in the cellar, Matt internalized the words from his father, “Smart people in the world are a dime a dozen. All you can do is control how hard you work.” Years later, after methodically building his toolbelt in wineries and vineyards on the east coast, Napa and Sonoma, Matt was hired as Enologist at Montelena upon finishing his degree in Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis in 2008. He was promoted to Winemaker in 2014.
Jason Moulton is the Director of Winemaking and Viticulture for Whitehall Lane Winery. A native of Illinois, Jason made his way to New Zealand and graduated from the Lincoln University Viticulture and Enology program just outside of Christchurch. He spent a number of years making wine in the Russian River, British Columbia, New Zealand, Bordeaux, South Africa, and finally to Napa Valley, where he recently completed his 23rd harvest. Through the years, Jason has ascended the ranks from Cellar Worker to Cellar Master, Assistant Winemaker to Winemaker. Apart from winemaking, he believes wine service, wine education, and sensory are of great importance and in 2017, became a certified sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers. As the Director of Winemaking and Viticulture at Whitehall Lane, he oversees not only the winemaking production and vineyard management, but leads it in an effort to be environmentally sensitive and sustainable in all facets.
On our final day of RISE 2025 we were fortunate to have an impactful conversation with @drreneelertzman & @finn.does concerning the mental & emotion cycles of the environmental work we all do. The how and why of what motivates our work is as important as the work itself.
If you missed this beautiful conversation please know that we have professionally recorded all sessions at RISE and will announce how to view them.
We offer a sincere and deeply felt thank you to both of these amazing speakers for joining us today.
In our current climate, RISE has meant more than ever. As we head into our final day today of Climate Action & Regenerative Farming, we want to take a moment to thank our visionary founders, @abrittain & @reyeswine.mw.
Thank you for the countless hours you’ve put in, the bravery to raise your voices, the vision to use your platforms meaningfully and for the beautiful community we’ve built together. Here’s to you! 🥂
We’ll see you all today at RISE Climate & Wine Symposium.
📸: @briana_marie
Incredible keynote from the one and only @realwolfofwine!
Catch him tonight at @statelineroad_smokehouse in Napa!
#wine #hiphop #wineandmusic #winestyle #winewinewine #winelife #winebar #winewriter #winespeak #wineandculture #dei #socialjustice
Who else has loved being greeted by these smiling faces the past week of RISE? 🙋♀️ Thank you @mp_egan39 & @marisataylorwines, you make our days a little brighter with your welcoming energy! ☀️
Thrilled to welcome you all to our Social Justice, Diversity & Inclusion Day! Still two more days to go after this. Be sure to grab your tickets!
Our final three events kick off tomorrow at 1:00pm AFTER the CIA Summit! Come hear from the @realwolfofwine, @nikki_silvestri and many more luminaries as we enter our first afternoon session! Stay for our first RISE Happy Hour & Snacks afterwards.
There are still tickets available at the link in our bio and you can use code RISE10 to join!
See you tomorrow 🥂
Stand out speakers and stand out quotes at RISE Proactive Farming, Soil Health & Diversity Day..
“Nature responds quickly if you let her” - @cainethompson
“25% of the population is enough to create a tipping point for regenerative agriculture.” - @profkimberlynicholas
“It starts with a single step!” - @cainethompson
“We have to connect with the problems we want to solve” - Dr. Jonathan Lundgren
“Farmers are stewards of not just land, but life!” - Dr. Jonathan Lundrgen
📸: @briana_marie
Today was moving. We had many inspiring & stunning moments at RISE. Yet this photo captures the soul of it perfectly. Nature, balance and the deeply riveting beauty in regenerative farming. Thanks for being with us today all for another full house.
THANK YOU to our incredible photographer @briana_marie for capturing this, and seeing our world in the thoughtful, informed and compassionate way that you do.
We are giving away very special prizes this year and we’re excited to congratulate our first winner: @mbvescovi!!
Don’t skip out on the chance to win at the Sponsor Scavenger Hunt today at Proactive Farming, Soil Health & Diversity Day!
Yesterday was a truly electric ⚡️day at RISE with great energy all around. Still 4 more events to go with Proactive Farming & Soil Health starting today!
Don’t miss out! We still have 5 more events for you to join starting with Energy Efficiency & Savings with our Keynote @rayisle tomorrow!
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