Thanks to Robin Barr Sussman to list our wine among others that are grown and crafted in a sustainable way – it’s very important to us as we’re a multi-generational family winery and we’d like to see the land preserved for many more kids and grand kids!

If you’re in the Houston area, drop in on Monica Pope and her crew at t’afia for a glass of Midnight Reserve and a Top Chef Master experience!

More on our sustainable winegrowing practices and Lodi Rules.

Derek Gray and his wife represent a small handful of organic and sustainable wines and we’re excited to be working with them.  (Can I resist the obvious pun, “we’re grabbing the bull by the horns!”?)

Have any favorite spots in Indiana where we should be?  Let us know.

For a complete list of the states where we have distribution, check out the Find our Wines page at our website.

It looks like our 2008 Generations Petite Sirah Petit Verdot was his favorite – it surprises some people (in a good way!) since it is a different wine style than others in our line up.

Read Steve’s article at Examiner.com and view the slideshow.

Glad you enjoyed the wines, Steve!

Photo: Craig Sanders

Check out the full article at the Stockton Record’s website.

The Twins saying a few words. Photo: Stockton Chamber of Commerce

Brad and Randy felt incredibly honored to be among the distinguished list of Hall of Fame honorees, both past and present.

Brad:

It’s an honor.  We go about our business and jump in and help out where we can.  You like to think you’re making a contribution, and to be honored this way says maybe you have, so it feels good.

Randy:

You don’t do it by yourself.   We’ve got families that have stood behind us in our work and we’ve had loyal employees…who have helped immeasurably in the successes that we’ve been having.

Lots of us were on hand at the award dinner to cheer for them and the other honorees.  A special congratulations goes to Paul Burkner of AIM, who the Twins have worked closely with for nearly 30 years.

To read the full article, including profiles on all six inductees, head to the Lodi News Sentinel’s article.

These wine shippers are 100% recycled, 100% recyclable, 100% biodegradable, and 100% compostable – how great is that?  It might be a small effort compared to our big projects like habitat restoration or installing photovoltaic solar panels, but every little bit counts.

We feel that doing things like generating clean solar power, restoring native wildlife habitat, and using our water resources efficiently are all steps in the right direction.

Read Megan’s post “Sustainability as a Family Tradition” here!

Also, check out Megan’s follow up post on Lodi’s green winegrowing program, Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing.

In my ‘other life’ as a director for the City of Lodi, my wingman at department head meetings was Police Chief Larry Hansen.  He retired/I retired and then Larry was elected to the Lodi City Council and found himself as the chairman of NCPA.

Larry called for the dinner and tour – and how could I refuse?  It was a golden opportunity to brag about our sustainable efforts.  The NCPA members and their spouses were good sports to climb through the winery – Phil Pennino, a former City of Lodi Mayor and long time PG&E employee joined Randy as a narrator for the tour.

Phil has been the point person for his company’s “Saving by Design” program that has gleaned over $900,000 in energy rebates for the winery.

Also a Lodi native son is NCPA General Manager James Pope, who graduated from Lodi High School just a few years before the Twins.

It was a great reunion – good opportunity to share our story as well as to glean some tips from the out of area NCPA members.  And the wines?  Well, let’s just say that dinner was spectacular, but perhaps it was the 2007 Generations Petit-Petite served with s’mores under a warm summer sky that made the night perfect.

She spent the afternoon with us touring the winery and vineyards, and learned about how we are reducing our carbon footprint through green technologies such as photovoltaic solar arrays.

Check out the video!

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On Tuesday, April 21st, I had the opportunity to work with local Girl Scout Troop #2029 to continue our habitat restoration efforts at our Sandpoint property along the Mokelumne River.

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To start off the afternoon, co-host James Jones, Wildlife Biologist from East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), led the Girl Scouts on a nature walk along the Mokelumne riverbank to point out native plant species, owl and wood duck boxes, mature elderberry plants, and a honey bee hive that I hadn’t noticed before either!

With shovels, cartons, and stakes in hand, the Girl Scouts learned how to properly plant a potted elderberry. We worked for about an hour to plant all of the elderberry bushes, but we finally finished.

LangeTwins would like to give special thanks for Troop #2029 and their parents for generously volunteering their time, efforts, and hard work to help with our restoration work along the Mokelumne.  The girls now have a hand in converting an old vineyard and sandy bottom field into a wonderfully biologically diverse riparian habitat area, a significant contribution to the ecological health of our watershed.

A little history on our restoration efforts on the Sandpoint property:

In 2004, we removed the old tokay vineyard that our grandfather planted and decided to embark on a habitat restoration project that would expand the riparian corridor along the Mokelumne.  With our own efforts and the help of a CalFed grant, invasive plant species were replaced by native oaks, wild roses, buckeyes, willows, box elders, and elderberries bushes.

In 2006, LangeTwins was the first signee of California’s first programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement, allowing us to plant the Mexican elderberry bush, host plant of the Valley Elderberry Beetle, a protected plant under the Endangered Species Act.  Had we not been able to work together with our partners, who included EBMUD, Environmental Defense, the Lower Mokelumne River Stewardship Steering Committee, San Joaquin County Resource Conservation District, and US Fish & Wildlife Service, we would not have been able to plant the elderberry bushes and also continue our normal farming operations nearby, due to significant restrictions under the Endangered Species Act.

In the end, the Safe Harbor Agreement was a win-win for both private land stewards and our government agencies, and the result was hundreds of plantings of the elderberry bush, and hopefully the return of the endangered beetle to our watershed.

Again, a big thanks to the Girl Scouts!

In the article, he highlights the unique opportunity we had in building a winery from scratch and how we used that to our advantage by building a sustainable facility.

From our solar arrays to our chillers, we built our winery to be sustainable – just like the way we farm our vineyards.

Don was also here at the winery for Lodi’s Green Building Workshop – see pictures from the event here and here.

Subscribe to Practical Winery & Vineyard to read the complete report.

Check out the video:

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For more on our sustainability efforts, see here and here!

The event opened with a workshop for 60 area vintners, farmers, and industry specialists and included a four hour workshop in addition to a hands-on tour with Randy, Brad, and Phil Pennino of PG&E.

It’s been a great partnership with PG&E and with them, we are committed to being an environmental leader and demonstrating that leadership through our actions.

The tour showed how the winery has utilized energy efficiency and conservation through the facilities by installing high efficiency lighting, chillers, boilers and wine tank insulation that have resulted in a total reduction of almost 3 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year and almost 2,000 therms of natural gas.

We also installed a 230 kilowatt photovoltaic solar system with a potential annual energy generation of 629,625 kWh and a potential annual utility cost savings of $75,555.

It has been a cooperative effort with PG&E, California Winegrape Growers Association, California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, and the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission.  Also, Darryl Conklin of Renewable Technology Inc., was instrumental with the design and installation of the bi-facial solar array over the press pad.

A highlight of the CSWA Earth Day celebration was PG&E’s presentation of $968,137 in rebates to LangeTwins Winery for its most recent energy efficiency and solar projects.  We partnered with PG&E’s Savings by Design program.

“Our family has been farming for generations and we want to pass on a sustainable business to the next generation,” said Randy.  “Switching to renewable energies and operating with the environment in mind is part of the equation.”

Thanks to Goff Photography for all the great photos!

]]> http://www.langetwins.com/blog/at-the-winery/2009/04/22/more-photos-from-our-green-building-workshop/feed/ 0 http://www.langetwins.com/blog/at-the-winery/2009/04/17/lodis-green-building-workshop-in-the-media-spotlight/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lodis-green-building-workshop-in-the-media-spotlight http://www.langetwins.com/blog/at-the-winery/2009/04/17/lodis-green-building-workshop-in-the-media-spotlight/#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:54:38 +0000 Joe Lange http://www.langetwins.com/blog/?p=1684 Read More →]]> Wine Business.com and Wines & Vines featured the Green Building Workshop and Energy Efficiency Seminar that we hosted last Wednesday.  It was a great event that drew in a large crowd from the wine industry, PG&E, California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, California Association of Winegrape Growers, Wine Institute, and the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission.  See below for excerpts from the articles, including their pictures.

The Lange Twins, Brad (far left) and Randy (far right), receive a check from PG&E representatives (L-R) Patsy Dugger and Janice Berman for $968,137 in incentive payments for energy efficiency measures at Lange Twins Winery.

From Wine Business.com:

The largest portion of the LangeTwins rebate was $651,000 for the winery’s PV solar system with a 230 KW generation capacity. The newest PV array, above the crush pad area that provides shade for workers sorting grapes and loading presses during crush, is the first installation in California using bifacial PV panels that generate power from overhead sunlight, as well as from ambient and reflected light on the underside of the PV panel to increase efficiency and overall generation capacity. Darryl Conklin, president of Renewable Technologies Inc. of Sutter Creek, CA that installed the winery PV system, says these panels are a newer PV technology, available commercially since 2006 and used almost exclusively to date in architectural applications. LangeTwins is the first known agricultural application of bifacial PV.

A solar array of bifacial PV panels over the Lange Twins crush pad is the first California installation of this PV technology that can generate power from light both above and below the panel.

The Langes are very active in CSWA’s Sustainable Winegrowing Program and with the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission’s (LWWC) sustainable viticulture program that includes the “Lodi Winegrower’s Workbook” and the “Lodi Rules!” certification program for sustainably farmed vineyards. As Brad explained, “Sustainability is a multi-generational venture and adventure, and we take our environmental responsibility very seriously.

(L-R) Brad Lange, PG&E Stockton account exec Phil Pennino, and Randy Lange discuss installed measures and how PG&E's Savings by Design program was used to design Lange Twins Winery for energy efficiency, during a facility tour.

From Wines & Vines:

When the Langes began planning the winery in 2005, they appealed San Joaquin County for permission to build a 40,000-ton facility within the next 20 years. At present, the winery is set up to accommodate half that, but the site designer’s initial plans included electrical and water piping, so groundwork has literally been laid for any future expansion.

Randy Lange said that cooperation from PG&E and environmental engineers helped him and his brother identify every way in which they could become “super efficient.” To put it in perspective, building decisions the Langes made created enough energy savings to power 41,300 homes for one year.

One of our favorite quotes of the article:

The winery is simply another project in the Lange twins’ three-decade ecological conservation portfolio. In 2006, LangeTwins Wine Estates was the first California recipient of the Leopold Conservation award, which recognizes landowners actively committed to environmental conservation. It is reputed to be the most environmentally friendly winery in the U.S.

That’s great to hear!  We are passionate about responsible winegrowing and sustainability and it’s an honor to be recognized.  Thanks to Michelle for the visit!

The aim of the workshop is to highlight the green building movement, PG&E’s incentive programs for energy efficiency, and tour folks around our own sustainably built winery!

Here are the details:

When: 8:30 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.* Registration begins at 8:00 a.m.  Continental breakfast will be served.  After the workshop, CSWA and LangeTwins will be hosting a complimentary lunch
Where: LangeTwins Winery and Vineyards (map)

The workshop will cover:

• An overview of the green building movement in the U.S and new mandates in CA.
• How to make the business case for implementing green building practices.
• How LEED certification works and the benefits of using LEED.
• Alternatives for lighting, building envelop considerations, building material options, thermal mass, passive cooling and heating, and reducing refrigeration loads.
• Examples of various forms of construction and different forms of energy innovation.
• An overview of PG&E’s incentive programs to optimize energy efficiency.
• An optional winery tour of the LangeTwins, featuring their green building and energy efficiency measures at the winery.

Click here for the workshop’s flyer.

Here in our office, we try to reduce the amount of paper we use.  Whenever we can, we try to keep our documents digital rather than printing.

These USB flash drives have also been a perfect solution to tell our story to potential wine distributors.  Instead of printing loads of tasting notes, pictures, brochures, etc. we can organize our complete presentation on these reusable USB flash drives.

The key here is to remember the three R’s:  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Our first priority is reducing, then reusing – the last resort is recycling!  The more we can do to reduce and reuse, the better off we will be.  It’s just one part of trying to be as sustainable as we can.

Feel left out?  Join our Wine Club for our latest wine releases and nifty surprises like this one!

Dr. Cliff Ohmart’s work on the Lodi Winegrower’s Handbook and the subsequent Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing Program attracted the multi-national group to the Lodi area and provided lots of discussion on how our local winegrowers strive to farm their vineyards in a sustainable way.

31 members representing Australia, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States met for lunch with Dr. Ohmart as the keynote speaker.

We were delighted to show them around our winery and share our passion for sustainable winegrowing.

Reed Fuji, The Stockton Record Agriculture Editor, discusses the tour with Wolfgang Zombach, Chairman of the OECD steering group on reducing pesticide risks and representing Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food Agriculture and Consumer Protections.  See Reed’s article here.

Aaron, part of the fifth generation of our family to farm in the Lodi Appellation talked about sustainability with Dr. Robert Luttik of the Netherlands.

A bit of show and tell with Randy featuring our four row electrostatic sprayer; efficiencies in the vineyard and the ability to reduce the carbon footprint are all part of our sustainability efforts.

The Twins, Randy and Brad

Just a few weeks ago I profiled our newest installation, a bi-facial solar array over our crushpad.  This array actually generates green energy from both sides; direct sunlight on top and indirect light on the bottom.

Our decision to invest in clean energy is firmly planted in our generational way of thinking.  Quite simply, the more we can do to lessen our impact on our surroundings, the better off we feel our next generation will be.  Generating clean solar power is just one aspect of that effort.

As Brad pointed out in the Lodi News Sentinel article, we also have a few habitat restoration projects in the works that we are very excited about.  We will keep you posted on the progress of our sustainable efforts.

Green Shade!

These new photovoltaic panels are double sided which allow them to generate electricity both from the direct sunlight shining on the front and the indirect ambient light being reflected back up onto the panels.  The double-sided panels are definitely new technology that we are hoping will increase our clean energy production.

Soakin' up the rays...

These panels add to the array on the winery cellar building, rows of panels that power vineyard irrigation pumps, and two huge arrays that cover the shops at the viticulture offices.

We profiled all the installations to show you how we are soakin’ up the rays in a post last August.

Double-sided panels rock.

We are really excited about these new, bi-facial panels.  Thanks to Renewable Technologies Inc for doing such a great job.  Now let’s start harvesting the sun!

Wine Business.com broke the news this morning:

Press Release: Lodi Winegrowers Achieve Sustainable Certification on 10,000 acres
From Daily News Links, 01/07/2009

January 5, 2009 (Lodi, CA) – Continuing to demonstrate their leadership in sustainable winegrowing, Lodi growers recently broke the 10,000 “certified sustainable” acres mark. Dr. Dan Sonke, Senior Scientist at Protected Harvest, confirms that “in 2008 one hundred forty three vineyards met the rigorous environmental standards of the Lodi Rules, representing more than 10% of the district’s vineyard acres.”

This achievement comes only 4 years after the initiation of the Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing (www.lodirules.com), California’s first 3rd party certified sustainable winegrowing program. The Lodi Rules takes a comprehensive approach to address the overall health of the vineyard and farm ecosystem. The farming standards go beyond pest management to promote practices that enhance biodiversity, air quality, soil and water health, efficient energy and water use, and employee well-being. It was developed under the auspices of the Lodi Winegrape Commission and is certified by Protected Harvest, a non-profit organization that independently certifies farmers’ use of stringent environmental growing standards (www.protectedharvest.org).

Many wines made with certified fruit from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 vintages bearing the Lodi Rules logo are now entering the marketplace. “Making wines from Lodi Rules certified fruit is helping wineries tell their story about great Lodi wines made from grapes grown with extra care by generations of farming families who are responsible to their land, their workers, and the community in which they live” according to Stuart Spencer, Program Manager of the Lodi Winegrape Commission. “We are proud of this accomplishment and look forward to even greater participation in future years.”

For more information please call Dr. Cliff Ohmart at the Lodi Winegrape Commission, 209.367.4727, or via email — cliff@lodiwine.com.

LangeTwins has been a part of the Lodi Rules program since 2006 and we manage 961 certified acres to date.  With our long tradition of sustainable practices, we will continue to certify our vineyards in years to come.

Look for the Lodi Rules logo on the back of our 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and 2007 Chardonnay – both these wines were made from winegrapes certified sustainable under the Lodi Rules program.

For the latest on Lodi Rules and sustainable topics, keep up with Dr. Cliff Ohmart’s blog!

The Twins: Brad and Randy Lange

You don’t have to look very far for a report on how the skyrocketing price of oil is affecting everyone’s pocketbook.  Everyone from the daily commuter to the multi-national corporation is feeling the pinch.  It is no different here at LangeTwins Winery and Vineyards.

In the September 8th edition of the Wine Business Daily News, Randy spoke about the increased pressure to operate fuel-efficiently, and how we have already been taking steps in that direction.  Along with Brad, LangeTwins has always been innovative in sustainable farming techniques.

Farming sustainably comes with its challenges.  Hybrid cars can’t haul bins of grapes during harvest and ‘electric tractors’ aren’t even on the horizon.  There are certain areas of our farming operation where are hands are tied.  But we have stayed on the forefront of sustainable innovation and strive to do more with less.

Three-row Trimmer

During the growing season, our grape harvesters are converted into multi-row trimmers and crop protection machines, covering three to four times the acreage compared to traditional methods.  By doing this we decrease our carbon footprint and our dependency on fossil fuels, but we also develop more specialized employees.  Doing more with less justifies an increased income for these skilled operators.

Lodi Rules!

This is a perfect example of the three E’s of the Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing Program: Economic viability, Environmental soundness, and social Equity.  We have over 800 acres of vineyards certified sustainably-grown in the Lodi Rules Program.  (Read more about the third-party certification process of Lodi Rules vineyards by Protected Harvest here)  Our Lodi Rules certification spotlights our all-encompassing sustainability efforts.  Innovative vineyard machinery is only one part of our long list of sustainable farming practices:

Solar Panels in our Vineyard

Renewable Energy

Taking advantage of the sunny San Joaquin Valley, we have installed photovoltaic solar systems at our viticulture headquarters, several agricultural water pumps, and our newly established winery. Our systems currently generate between 88% and 92% of their own energy, thus reducing our carbon footprint.

No Vacancy in our Vineyard Owl Boxes

Habitat Conservation

We recognize that when the environment is healthy and stable, so are our vineyards. The presence of wildlife is encouraged in the vineyards by the introduction and preservation of native grasses and trees, and the placement of nesting boxes for owls, birds, and bats.

Habitat Restoration at Gill Creek

Riparian Vegetation

A riparian area is the portion of a watershed which borders the banks for rivers, streams, and creeks. We understand the watershedʼs role in preventing sediments and nutrients from entering waterways. By restoring these areas and keeping them healthy we reduce erosion, maintain soil balance, and provide wildlife habitat.

Low Volume Drip Irrigation

Water Conservation

Winegrapes use less water than most crops; nonetheless, we constantly monitor soil moisture with a Neutron Probe, and regulate water usage through Low Volume Drip Irrigation. These two techniques allow us to manage when and where to irrigate, and help maintain our most precious resource.

We will continue to be innovative in our farming practices here at LangeTwins.  Sustainability to us means more than just saving money at the gas pump – it’s about caring for the environment and the land we have owned for years so our future generations can continue winegrowing.

Here at the winery we have a 250kw photovoltaic solar panel installation that supplies approximately 70-80% of our regular energy needs.  The panels cover the entire roof of our cellar and we have plans for more installations as we build more buildings.  More roof space = more green energy!

The LangeTwins Crew at a Pump Installation

We are committed to renewable energy as it is an integral part in being a sustainable farming operation.  Being ‘green’ is more than just a trend at LangeTwins.  We strive to be as sustainable as possible because we are multi-generational, and we want the next generation to have a better environmental outlook than that of today.  Using green energy, like solar panels, helps us achieve that goal.

Check out the graph below to see how solar panel production works at our winery.  You’ll notice how power production increases as the sun shines brighter, peaking around midday, and slowly tapering off towards dusk.  Through a website which tracks data from our solar installation, I can see how efficient our panels are working on an quarterly-hour basis.

Daily Solar Power Production

An important thing to consider is that even on a cloudy day, we are still producing energy – just not at the same levels.  On many days, we are actually sending excess power back to the grid, helping to power other businesses and homes around the area.

In addition to the winery, we have solar panels covering the viticulture office and shops which power the farming operation on site as well as the family homes.  Smaller installations at a variety of vineyard pumps are also producing green energy.

These efforts are all part of our sustainability mission at LangeTwins Winery and Vineyards.  Think green when you think LangeTwins!