Last month at the ATMO Summit (June 11, 2025), our COO, Scott Timms, hit the stage to share a real-world case study featuring our Elite 290 propane chiller in action at New Belgium Brewing. It was a great chance to show how natural refrigerants—especially R290 (aka propane)—aren’t just better for the environment, but also a smart, real-world solution for a wide range of industries. From breweries and food processors to industrial facilities and beyond, propane is proving it can deliver serious cooling power—without the climate cost.  Why Are People Switching to Natural Refrigerants? Let’s face it—HFCs are on the way out. With new rules rolling in and environmental pressure mounting, more businesses are looking for refrigerants that are low-impact, energy-efficient, and future-proof. That’s where propane (R290) comes in: Ultra-low GWP (Global Warming Potential) High efficiency = lower energy bills It’s been used safely in system

WAVE is the Washington wine industry’s signature research seminar/webinar and stands for Washington Advancements in Viticulture and Enology. WAVEx seminars/webinars feature research in a condensed format.  This webinar highlights the latest findings of a smoke exposure research project supported by the Washington wine industry and led by Dr. Tom Collins, assistant professor at Washington State University’s Viticulture and Enology Department. Register here.

TLDR If you manage pricing on Excel spreadsheets and email them back and forth, you are in the Stone Age. Modern pricing platforms outshine Excel in many aspects. They offer significantly enhanced accuracy and speed, superior version control, and ensure state-level compliance. These platforms are the key to unlocking wineries' full potential, and they pay for themselves quickly. The good is the enemy of the best This saying from Jim Collins’ 2001 book Good to Great poignantly indicts the state of most wine and spirits companies' preferred method of managing pricing: static spreadsheets that must be emailed back and forth.  Even if you utilize shared drives and shared spreadsheets (i.e., Google Docs and Google Drive), you are still rubbing two sticks together to make a fire when you could be using a blowtorch. Even on their best days, dealing with the 3-tier pricing models is complex and varies from state to state. Collecting, aggregating, and reporting distributor p

Join Vineyard Team at Tablas Creek Vineyard for a discussion on establishing and farming a dry farmed vineyard.  Learn from Jordan Lonborg (Vineyard Manager) and Neil Collins (Executive Winemaker) about their floor management, soils, stormwater management, establishment considerations, and lessons learned from their dry-farmed blocks. REGISTER Coffee and pastries will be provided. Please wear sturdy foot wear as we’ll be in a pretty rugged location. There will be an opportunity at the end of the meeting to hike to the top of the hill to see part of the planting that is well established.   Directions: Follow Google Maps directions to this dropped pin. Carpooling is encouraged!   Project Partners: California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Vineyard Team We would like to thank the Department of Water Resources for providing funding for education on dry farming in coastal winegrapes.    CCA 2 - SWM REGISTER

Join Vineyard Team at Tablas Creek Vineyard for a discussion on establishing and farming a dry farmed vineyard.  Learn from Jordan Lonborg (Vineyard Manager) and Neil Collins (Executive Winemaker) about their floor management, soils, stormwater management, establishment considerations, and lessons learned from their dry-farmed blocks. REGISTER Coffee and pastries will be provided. Please wear sturdy foot wear as we’ll be in a pretty rugged location. There will be an opportunity at the end of the meeting to hike to the top of the hill to see part of the planting that is well established.   Directions: Follow Google Maps directions to this dropped pin. Carpooling is encouraged!   Project Partners: California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Vineyard Team We would like to thank the Department of Water Resources for providing funding for education on dry farming in coastal winegrapes.    CCA 2

An Introduction to Propane, A Natural Refrigerant with Near-Zero GWP by Paul Johnson, G&D’s Director of Technology and R&D The refrigeration industry has been turned on its head recently with new and upcoming  refrigerant regulations. For the last thirty years, we’ve navigated the tightening of environmental  regulations – first focused on reducing a refrigerant’s ozone depletion potential (ODP); and now  focused on reducing the refrigerant’s global warming potential (GWP). This constant  progression, incrementally reducing the impact our chillers may have on the environment if a  leak were to occur, has pushed our industry to improve the technology we use, and lessen our  environmental impact.  Twenty years ago, when we were in the process of moving away from the old industry standard,  R22, we tried to predict which refrigerant would ultimately win out. Which refrigerant had the  potential to be &ldq

Renowned Washington State University Wine Scientist Tom Collins Selected as the Inaugural Jackson Family Wines Endowed Professor

Jackson Family Wines Partners with WSU on Endowment to Develop Research and Study Impacts of Smoke Exposure within the Viticulture & Enology Department August 9, 2023 – RICHLAND, Wash and […]

Congress Crashes, Women Win As mentioned last week, Congress left Washington for six weeks with lots of vital unfinished business, especially in the House where a couple seemingly uncontroversial bills died, hinting at the distinct possibility of a government shutdown at the end of September. But on the Senate side, two women showed how Washington should work. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) led the powerful Appropriations Committee to adopt budget recommendations for all 12 spending categories. This is the first time in five years that all these measures were adopted on time, and in a truly bipartisan way, and it just goes to show what can happen when women are in charge. FIVS: The Global View With DC vacated, now is a good time to look beyond our country to what’s happening globally in the world of wine. Just as WineAmerica monitors the national policy outlook, Paris-based FIVS is essentially like a global version of WineAmerica monitoring the internationa

We are thrilled to introduce our new National Sales Manager, Kent VanArnam! A vineyard and winery owner himself, prior to joining the Flextank team, Kent's professional career included excelling as a National Sales Manager and Director of Marketing for large media companies. "When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with my wife Allison, daughter Paige and our son, Max." Kent says. "Some of our favorite things to do include playing in the outdoors, traveling and enjoying live music. I love experiencing the people, culture and natural surroundings of new places.' "My wife and I live just outside of Yakima, Washington where we own cherry orchards, vineyards and a winery. On the weekends, you can often find me on one of our tractors working on our property. For the last 15 years, we have been using Flextanks in our winemaking. I am thrilled to now proudly represent the Flextank brand as I work with wineries to explore ways of using Flextank products to incr