As wineries are looking for ways to attract the younger generation, one approach is to answer their thirst for sustainable solutions. Because they are wary of greenwashing, you should expect to show proof that your product has been farmed, crafted and packaged in ways that protect the environment.
Veritiv, a company known for supplying innovative packaging and container solutions to the wine industry, created EcoScore to help customers, including wineries, track sustainability data to show progress being made.
“EcoScore is a database and dashboard that tracks sustainability attributes for packaging and other materials we provide,” explains Suehan Estrada, Regional Marketing Manager for Veritiv. “We’ve been able to identify sustainability attributes, such as whether they are compostable, biodegradable or recyclable, for many items we sell.”
Veritiv uses its extensive database to generate an EcoScore report for each customer based on what they’ve purchased through Veritiv. Wineries can share their scores with eco-conscious customers and report on their progress toward sustainability goals — it can even help them achieve LEED certification. Veritiv helped one customer develop and implement six projects to achieve its plastic reduction goals and increased their EcoScore from 39% to 50%. That’s a progress report worth sharing!
“Sustainability has become a focus of the wine industry overall,” says Ray Sychowski, National Market Manager of Wine and Spirits for Veritiv, “which makes sense since wineries are stewards of the land that needs to be preserved to sustain their business. But the hardest thing for a winery to do is to show that they’re sustainable.”
Bringing an accountability metric to the wine industry’s sustainability efforts through EcoScore is a game-changer for which Veritiv recently received the 2024 WINnovation Award.
Veritiv is well known for supplying innovative packaging and container solutions to the wine industry. Its in-house Vine Design team provides brand strategies and designs for packaging, label, and product branding, with 14 design centers worldwide. Estrada, who is at the Tracy, CA, facility, explains, “When someone needs wine packaging designed around a new bottle or a new brand, we can design the brand and graphics as well as the packaging.”
“We can design everything from new labels to bottles and boxes to new DTC packaging,” adds Sychowski, who has been working with the wine industry since he was a 10-year-old helping his father at All American Containers. “We are the first and only distributor I’m aware of offering a holistic approach to the wine industry. Not only can we service a winery’s glass needs, we can also deliver DTC packaging from stretch film to glue, warehousing to shipping — everything that a winery needs including facility solutions, Veritiv offers.”
Veritiv’s commitment to the wine industry and service to its customers in Sonoma, Mendocino and Napa Counties is backed by Veritiv’s global network of suppliers. To learn more about Veritiv and EcoScore, stop by the booth 320 at the WIN Expo.
WIN Expo Exhibitors by Category:
North Coast Wine Industry Expo – WIN Expo – at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, CA on Thursday, December 5, 2024.
