Fetzer Vineyards of Mendocino County changing corporate name to Bonterra Organic Estates

Fetzer Vineyards of Hopland announced on Tuesday that it has changed its corporate operating name to Bonterra Organic Estates to better promote its environmental commitment to wine consumers who are increasingly seeking out such brands.

The name change reflects the growth in its organic Bonterra brand with consumers. The label has had annual percentage sales growth in the high single-digits within the competitive U.S. wine marketplace, said Giancarlo Bianchetti, chief executive officer.

The company was founded by the Fetzer family in 1968 and the Bonterra brand has used fruit from organic vineyards since 1987, years before there became a greater focus on better environmental farming practices within the wine industry.

The Chilean wine company Concha y Toro bought the company in 2011 in a deal valued at $238 million.

“We see the consumers coming into the organic category … especially with younger consumers as they care about how the wines are produced,” said Bianchetti. “I see this less than a niche than it used to be.”

The company offers a Fetzer label in the retail market and that brand will retain the family name despite the change at the corporate level. It also has the popular 1000 Stories label, which is a bourbon barrel-aged brand that features a buffalo on its label.

The organic wine market in the United States is still small, with estimates ranging between 1% to 2% of the overall market. One perennial problem has been wineries opting to use different terms to describe their wines, ranging from biodynamic to sustainably farmed to natural wine. “Unlike with other products, the use of the term ‘organic’ has mixed consumer responses when it comes to wine,” according to a report from Silicon Valley Bank issued earlier this year.

Yet, there is potential. The organic U.S. wine marker stands to grow at 10% annually through 2030, according to Grand View Research Inc., a market research firm based in San Francisco. It placed the 2021 value for organic wine at $769 million.

Fetzer has not rested on its laurels in the organic market and has continued to push the envelope on its environmental commitment. The wine company has certified about a third of its estate plantings as biodynamic, which means the farm’s ecosystem is balanced and self-sustaining through such acts as administering specialized compost and nutrients. And late last year, the company announced that all of its Mendocino County vineyard holdings of 960 acres and its winery had been certified as regenerative organic. That definition means such practices are helping reverse climate change through actions like replenishing organic matter in the soil and restoring its biodiversity.

The company has its 2021 Bonterra pinot noir priced at $18 on its website. Bianchetti said that his company has been able to competitively price the brand in the premium category without sacrificing its quality control, which should set the label up for increased growth, he said.

“We have everything, so I am not asking consumers for a trade-off,” Bianchetti said. “That’s what used to happen in the past with organic.”