2022 Oregon Wine Symposium | Winery Sustainability and Best Practices for Water Management in the Cellar

Brighid O’Keane is the Outreach Director for LIVE, which provides third-party sustainability certification for wineries and vineyards in the Pacific Northwest. Brighid organizes educational training series for LIVE’s 350+ members and works with winegrowing associations and partners to share resources on sustainable winegrowing. Brighid represents LIVE in U.S. Sustainable Winegrowing, a multi-state project to raise awareness about certification programs (sustainablewinegrowing.us). She also sits on the Washington State Pollinator Health Task Force and the Porto Protocol’s Carbon Management Working Group (portoprotocol.com). Brighid has 20 years of experience working for environmental- and agricultural- nonprofit organizations in Colorado, California, DC, Thailand, and the PNW. Contact her if you are interested in learning more about LIVE’s mission, values, and becoming a member.

Erin Upton is a qualitative social scientist with a passion for engaging community and supporting resilience and transformation. Erin has a doctorate in Earth, Environment and Society from Portland State University. Her research focused on the human dimensions of complex environmental challenges, specifically climate change and water in wine regions in North America, South Africa, and Australia. Erin is committed to elevating diverse community voices and advancing knowledge in applied, real-world contexts. Her breadth of experience spans the disciplines of geography, policy, environmental science, humanities, and design. Prior to research, she worked as a landscape architect in New York City and in management in the Oregon wine industry. Erin is currently an Associate Consultant with the evaluation and research firm Dialogues in Action.

Haley Duncan is a third-generation vintner from Silver Oak and Twomey Cellars. Haley’s grandfather, Ray Duncan, co-founded Silver Oak in the early 70’s and her father, Tim Duncan has worked at the wineries for over 30 years. After graduating from Skidmore College in 2013 with a degree in Environmental Studies, Haley moved back to California to learn the family business first-hand, working in the vineyards, cellars and customer service department. She then became Project Manager for construction of the new Alexander Valley winery in Healdsburg specializing in sustainability. Haley has applied her studies to help achieve the first LEED Platinum and Living Building Challenge (LBC) certifications for new construction in the wine business. During construction of the new winery, she also led sustainability initiatives at Silver Oak’s Oakville winery which became the first existing building certified LEED Platinum in July 2016.

Katie Jackson is the first-born daughter of California wine pioneers Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke, and is a second-generation proprietor working to keep her family-run business at the forefront of quality and stewardship. Katie actively promotes the Jackson family’s belief that environmental stewardship and social responsibility are essential to building family business that will endure for generations. Since stepping into her first winery role in the cellar at Stonestreet Estate Vineyards, Katie has continued to build on her family’s winemaking heritage.

Today, Katie serves as senior vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility for Jackson Family Wines, a position that is equal parts sustainability and advocacy. Katie launched the company’s first sustainability report in 2016 to highlight its decades-long sustainability journey and establish comprehensive goals and is currently spearheading the development of the company’s new resiliency plan launching in 2021. Under Katie’s leadership, Jackson Family Wines has declared a commitment to become Climate Positive by 2050, built the U.S. wine industry’s largest generation of onsite solar energy, and reduced its water use intensity 48%.

Katie continues to advance water security and innovative energy management while also working to adopt regenerative farming practices. Most recently, Katie led Jackson Family Wines in co-founding the International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA) with Familia Torres of Spain. IWCA’s mission is to decarbonize the global wine industry with goals for all members to become Climate Positive by 2050.

As the Jackson family’s principal voice in promoting sustainable agriculture programs, Katie ensures that the family’s vineyards throughout California and Oregon are certified sustainable. Additionally, Katie co-manages the Government Relations and External Affairs Department working on critical regulatory relations issues and directs charitable donations for the company’s community outreach program.

Cheney Vidrine began his career as a scientist in the wood products industry, but then took cues from his identical twin brother and jumped head-first into wine production. After chasing harvests in New Zealand, Australia, France and numerous Oregon vintages, Cheney found himself at the rapidly growing Union Wine Company. Now the associate winemaker, he plays a significant role in an organization that relishes crafting wines that diverge from what our industry considers “normal.” Union Wine Company has been able to bring innovation to an industry that has historically found it hard to innovate by spearheading the canned wine movement with its much-loved brand, Underwood, as well as contributing to the growing market of packaged wine cocktails and coolers.