Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/45785
EDITOR'S DESK Green Scene The For those of you who thought the whole "green" thing was a passing phase in the wine industry, I have some news: Sustainable and eco-friendly practices have become as firmly entrenched in the North American wine industry as gophers in a vineyard. Not one, but two, major indus- try conferences/trade shows have grown out the green movement: The Sustainable Ag Expo and the Green Wine Summit, both in Cali- fornia. The Sustainable Ag Expo, hosted by the Cent r a l Coa s t Vineyard Team, is now in its seventh year. (The 2011 conference takes place Nov. 14-15 in Paso Robles.) The Green Wine Summit will host its fourth annual event in Napa Nov. 29-30. To keep the momentum going, we've devoted this issue of V&WM to green practices, products and programs. Despite the consolidation we're now seeing in the solar equipment industry due to competition from China and declining solar incentives in Europe, there are still plenty of rebates and tax incentives avail- able to U.S. wineries and growers. In our story, "Solar Tax Incentives" (page 66), tax attorney Lee J. Peter- son shows you where the money is for 2011-2012. Solar panels aren't cheap, even after government rebates, so you'll want to make sure they stay put once they've been installed. In the last couple years, thieves have made off with hundreds of thou- sands of dollars' worth of solar pan- els belonging to California vintners. Some criminals have even struck multiple times at the same loca- tion! Fortunately, there are afford- able and effective ways to thwart theft, as described in Deborah Park- 10 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT NOV - DEC 2011 er Wong's story, "Protecting Your Solar Investment," on page 72. If you've been weighing the mer- its of taking your winery carbon neutral, as more and more folks are these days, you'll want to check out "Putting Wine into (Carbon) Neu- tral" (page 86) for resources and tips from vintners who've taken the plunge. For those who aren't ready or willing to commit to a solar instal- lation or carbon neutrality program, there are also opportunities to go green in the winery on a smaller scale. Winery cleaning and sanita- tion used to mean breaking out the caustic materials and toxic chemi- cals, but that's no longer the case. In "The Green of Clean" (page 78), Laura Ness highlights products and equipment that can help vintners get the job done without compro- mising their green principles. This issue also covers another kind of "green" – the kind your sales and marketing efforts are sup- posed to generate. In his "Market Watch" column (page 25), Wilfred Wong doles out valuable advice from a wine retailer's perspective in "How to Be a Sales Rep." Elizabeth Slater's column (page 21) tells you how to get more bang for your mar- keting buck by combining e-mail and – gasp! – snail mail. As 2011 winds down, here's wishing that your competitors will be "green with envy" about your success in the coming year. Salute! Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwm-online.com. WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM