Fetzer promotes environmentally friendly practices in marketing wine

Fetzer promotes environmentally friendly practices in marketing wine
Alex Davis

The next time you're shopping for a bottle of red or white, Brown-Forman Corp. hopes you'll think of its Fetzer wine as green.

Fetzer is launching a $1 million marketing campaign emphasizing the vineyard's commitment to the environment.

Fetzer Vineyards has struggled in recent years to maintain market share, with volume slipping under 3 million cases annually.

But sales for the fiscal year ending this month are expected to be up 6 percent. Fetzer's brand director, John Tichenor, is aiming for the environmental campaign to deliver an even higher growth rate.

Fetzer's winery in Hopland, Calif., already claims to have the largest array of solar panels in the industry. Its administration building is made of rammed earth and recycled wood, and its tractors run on vegetable oil. The winemaker started its sustainability kick in the 1980s, but with soaring gasoline prices and global warming at the forefront of consumers' minds, Tichenor said the timing is finally right to publicize the brand's earth-friendly reputation.

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