Transcript of GPI's Interview with Don Freytag of Bonterra Vineyards

GPI: Hi Don, thanks for joining us today. Why did Bonterra Vineyards choose to produce organic wines?

In the late 80s, well before organic became the rage here in the U.S., we had a gardener at Fetzer Vineyards, which is one of Brown-Foreman’s other brands, who had an organic garden on the vineyards. He was basically growing these vegetables organically for wine pairings for when we had people to the winery, and people just marveled over the incredible quality of the fruit and the purity of the fruit and the great taste. The gardener said, “Why don’t you do this with your grapes? Why are you spraying chemicals on the grapes? You could really dramatically improve the quality of the wine and the fruit if you weren’t using chemicals.” So that really is what got us thinking about it and we made the decision to start farming some areas of our land, our vineyards, organically in 1987. So we were definitely the first by far in getting into it and now we farm well over 1200 acres organically and about 200 of those 1200, we also farm biodynamically, which is a whole different conversation.

GPI: Did producing an organic wine influence your decision to use glass bottles?

Yeah. We basically have always tried to approach this brand as a true expression of the place in a very authentic, natural proposition and that’s what the brand is, that’s its personality. For us, a traditional glass package definitely makes the most sense. The other thing is trying to look at ways, although it’s really got to be the glass industry that takes the lead, to get more recycled glass content into the glass that’s available. I think there have been some good innovations there.

GPI: Don, did you consider using any other packaging material?

Not for these wines because of our positioning. We’re really looking to have a very premium-looking package and we felt that glass by far is the best communication of a premium image for a brand.

GPI: Bonterra recently revamped its labeling, which I really think looks spectacular. How important is the glass package and the labeling to the success of your brand? And, what messages do you think the look conveys to your consumers?

We did [change our labeling]. We didn’t really change our glass. We’ve got a beautiful French green color for our white wines and I believe the reds are packaged in a little bit deeper color glass. Essentially what we did is a label change, so we just changed the substrate and the coloration of our packaging a little bit as well as some of the design elements too. We really had two primary goals: One is to increase the premium cues without throwing out some of the great stuff that was already going on with the packaging. We wanted to make sure we increased our premium cues and also increase what we call shelf attraction or shelf impact so that the brand pops a little bit more off that label. It was beyond just a visual exercise in bringing in new materials that have texture where you can really feel ridges in the label … it really helps increase the premium cues and also makes it feel a little bit more natural.

GPI: What has the consumer response been to your wines and the image for your brand?

Well, Bonterra has just been a wonderful story. We actually doubled our size in the past three years and we’re continuing to grow quite rapidly actually even through the difficult times that we’re all experiencing right now. The brand has got such an incredibly strong and loyal franchise. People just love it.

GPI: What are your plans for the future with the Bonterra brand?

Well, we’re expanding the brand globally and right now the US market is about 75 percent of our business. Canada is growing quite rapidly because they’re keenly interested in organics and obviously the environment. Europe is also doing exceptionally well for us and we’re even shipping some containers over to Japan. So any market that is interested in high-value California wine and the organic positioning and story. We’re also working on our biodynamic program, which I mentioned to you, and it’s an interesting concept. It’s basically everything you do with organic, but there are a few additional layers, which have to do more with treating the farm as its own little ecosystem.

GPI: Will you continue to package Bonterra wines in 100 percent recyclable glass bottles?

Absolutely. Absolutely. We’re all about the environment and keeping things as green as we possibly can. I mentioned that Fetzer, one of our other brands, is the most sustainable wine on the planet and they’re using all solar energy. They’re totally off the grid and they’ve reduced their waste by something like 96 percent over the past year by using all kinds of recycled materials. They’re really doing a terrific job in trying to minimize their footprint.