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Chateau Ste. Michelle

Case Study

Company: Chateau Ste. Michelle

Business Sector: Winery, distribution

Published: October 2007

Highlights

  • Saved 50% of the water used to clean out wine barrels and significant staff time by purchasing barrel washers
  • saved 82,000 gallons of hot water, and $10,000 a season by using higher pressure water to wash barrels
  • Improved recycling programs to include cell phones, batteries, and stretch wrap

Background

Chateau Ste. Michelle, Washington State’s oldest winery, has made painstaking efforts to become more water and energy efficient since the early 1990s. The company is now certified as an EnviroStar business, and saves money through their recycling and waste reduction initiatives.

Going Green

The resource conservation programs at Chateau Ste. Michelle have been integrated without affecting any of the important steps to produce high quality wine each season. 

Water Conservation

Chateau Ste. Michelle ages their wine in oak barrels, which used to be cleaned out with a hose and hot water. Now that the winery has purchased barrel washers, it takes just 3 to 5 minutes to wash 4 barrels at once. In addition, pressure washers with turn-off nozzles have replaced hoses for cleaning floors, tanks and other equipment, saving even more water. Staff also uses low-flow water fixtures for washing in the kitchen, and recycled water is used in the winery’s cooling tower.

Chateau Ste Michelle is also planning additional water conservation measures.  They plan to begin using higher pressure barrel washers, and are considering catching recycled, or ‘grey water’ for irrigating grass and gardens. Using higher pressure washers will save an additional 82,000 gallons of hot water and $10,000 a season.

Recycling

The Chateau recycles glass, paper, cardboard, pallets, stretch wrap, cell phones, batteries and fluorescent bulbs. In 2006, the winery recycled:

  • 168 tons of glass
  • 5 tons of mixed paper
  • 47 tons of cardboard
  • 10 tons of stretch wrap

Want to learn more?

Contact Resource Venture at 206-343-8505 or help@resourceventure.org.

 
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