J D Wetherspoon – Bringing you the best UK pubs and the best ale and wine festivals

California's greenest vineyard celebrates its 40th birthday and the 10th anniversary of serving its wine to Wetherspoon's customers

FETZER MILESTONES

1968

Jim and John Fetzer convert an old barn into a winery on a 100 year old vineyard that their father, lumber merchant Barney Fetzer (pictured here), had purchased 10 years previously. The family make 2,500 cases of gutsy Zinfandel .

1976

Barney retires from the lumber busi ness to focus all his attention on wine and Paul Dolan is hired as head winemaker to establish white wine production.

1981

The family purchase 1130-acre Sundial Ranch in Mendocino County mainly planted with Chardonnay. Ten of Barney's 11 children take over the management of the company. In 1982 Sundial Chardonnay is launched, trailblazing the Chardonnay boom that followed.

1984

The family purchase the 1300-acre Valley Oaks ranch in Hopland. Fetzer introduc es sustainable p rac tices to improve energy efficiency and vineyard practises. Production is now 540,000 cases.

1985

An experimental five acre organic garden at Valley Oaks kicks off an interest in growing grapes organically. Dennis Martin hired as winemaker.

1990

Fetzer begin to farm their vineyards organically. Composting programme begins using grape skins, stems and seeds from crushed grapes. Recycling centres introduced. Fetzer create Bonterra wine label for wine produced from 100% organically grown grapes.

1992

Fetzer sold to Brown-Forman and Paul Dolan named president. Work begins on new winery. Case production reaches 2.2 million.

1993

Inaugural release of Eagle Peak Merlot which becomes an early benchmark for the Merlot category.

1996

Fetzer build 10,000 square foot administration building, one of the first large-scale uses of rammed earth construction. The building is 46% more energy efficient.

1997

Fetzer named a top ten recycling company by the California Department of Conservation.

1998

Fetzer installs a natural reedbed water filtration system eliminating the need to use chlorine to treat water from the winery.

A new barrel room is built with earth walls 20 metres thick and capable of holding 65,000 barrels.

1999

Fetzer winemaking operations transfer from Redwood Valley to the North Coast Winery in Hopland.

2000

Fetzer switch to 100% renewable (green) power, reducing electricity generated greenhouse gas impacts. Fetzer Syrah Rosé is launched in the UK pioneering the new world premium Rosé category. The 2001 and 2002 vintages go on to win IWC gold medal and Best Value Rosé Award.

2006

Fetzer installs the largest solar panel in the wine industry to supply 75% of electricity used by the bottling plant.

2007

Fetzer wins 'Brands with a Conscience' award from the Medinge Group. Fetzer introduces Valley Oaks Shiraz in the UK, an unoaked wine anticipating demand for lighter less oaky reds.

2008

Production is now 3.8 million cases from 50,000 tonnes of grapes.

Some things get even better with age - and that is certainly true of the partnership enjoyed between Fetzer Vineyards and J D Wetherspoon.

When chief executive John Hutson and chief operating officer Paul Harbottle recently visited the vineyard in Mendocino County, California, they were able to toast the 10th anniversary and reflect on how the two companies have developed and grown together. They also took stock of the close synergies between the two companies' philosophies and approaches to business - not least that the customer comes first and that they both offer great value, with no compromise on quality.

Indeed, it is only by delivering quality that you (the customer) will be convinced that anything has a value worth paying for; that was the basis of the introduction of Fetzer to Wetherspoon, when Fetzer first started supplying its 'house wine' back in 1998. In those days, Wetherspoon had fewer pubs - and Fetzer's first order was to supply just 1,000 cases to the 80 or so pubs. Now, I am not sure who has counted them all, but that first order has accumulated to over 75 million glasses over the years.

The 'new world' house wine was a revelation, and Fetzer Coldwater Creek (CWC) set the tongues wagging, as well as the taste buds tingling, as house wine stopped being regarded as the cheap, low-quality option which had been the norm in the pub trade.

As tastes and expectations developed, Wetherspoon and Fetzer worked together to ensure quality; by 2002, the blended CWC dry red and dry white were replaced with specific grapes - namely Chardonnay and merlot, with the white Zinfandel making a trio of house wines in 2006. The three then became four when, in 2007, a pinot grigio was added to the house wine list. However, this wine was no longer from California, but produced from the pinot grigio grapes grown in Italy - one of the benefits of belonging to the international Brown-Forman wine group.

Raise a fresh glass

So, over the years, you have been able to trust Fetzer to bring you fresh wine and fresh ideas. It's no surprise that these clever Californians (keen to ensure that quality is maintained and any impact on the environment reduced) were key in embracing and developing the revolutionary wine-packaging and -dispense system available at Wetherspoon.

In 2007, the very same wine available in bottles was introduced in a fresh draught system. The wine is stored chilled in a sealed container and, when a glass is requested, the required amount is 'pulled through' a cooling system, delivering the precise temperature required.

Uniquely fresh, with no exposure to air before reaching your glass, the last glass is as fresh and as chilled as the first.

We won't bore you with all of the techie stuff: the key point is, with our draught wine, that the temperature is regulated continuously, to a perfect serve, at 4 - 8°C (for white) and 18 - 22°C (for red). There is no need for those approximate guesses. This leaves you assured of a chilled glass of white wine and a room-temperature glass of red, whatever the weather.

Fetzer celebrates 40th birthday with greener commitments

After its first commercial production of 2,500 cases of gutsy red Zinfandel in 1968, the company has not looked back. Worldrenowned for the quality of its award-winning wines, Fetzer has also become a leading pioneer and benchmark for sustainable viticulture and wine-making. Not one to rest on its laurels, the winery is stepping up its sustainable commitment this year by conducting a major greenhouse gas study; participating in a biodiversity study to reveal the positive effects of habitat conservation and embarking on a carbon sequestration study, to show how organic vineyards and conserved oak woodlands are having a positive impact on climate change.

Dennis Martin, who has been a wine-maker at Fetzer Vineyards since 1985, said: "Fetzer has always taken as much care of the environment as it has of its wines. It is our responsibility to work in a way which treads lightly on the land, so it is important that our wine-making practices be as environmentally friendly as possible, while maintaining our great quality and consistency. I hope that we continue to inspire our consumers, worldwide, with every glass of Fetzer which they drink."

Fetzer Vineyards now gets most of its electricity from the earth's most natural source, the sun. Its administrative building gets 75% of its electrical needs from solar panels. A recent installation of the largest solar panel of any winery in California (and possibly the world), covering 6,500m2 of roof space, provides 'clean' electricity to the bottling plant, with any extra electricity needed supplied from 100% green sources. Since 1999, these measures have saved 454,000kWh of electricity annually, at the winery, helping greatly to reduce Fetzer's electricity-generated greenhouse gas impact.

Environmental sensitivity extends beyond the vineyards, with a company-wide recycling centre for just about everything imaginable, reducing its waste to landfill by 95.4% between 1990 and 2006. Fetzer is now one of the top ten recycling companies in California. Wine bottles contain up to 35% recycled glass, while its cardboard carton dividers are 100% post-consumer paper waste. Grape skins, stems and seeds are composted for use as a natural fertiliser - and water conservation has saved 6.6 million gallons annually, cutting annual usage by 24%.

Fetzer Vineyards has taken risks and managed to make things successful - which many would not have expected - becoming organic is an example. In addition to Fetzer's conventional wines, found all over the world, the vineyard farms more than 6,879,660m2 (1,700 acres) organically, making it the largest grower of certified organically grown grapes in California and one of the largest in the world.

For a complete history of Fetzer Vineyards: www.fetzer.eu