Passing through the pristine landscapes of California’s wine country, it’s hard to imagine the complexities of keeping these valuable crops safe. Indeed, even some vineyard owners themselves are unaware of the threats that their businesses face.

 

It only took one incident, however, before Kendall-Jackson realized that they needed the help of an experienced security professional to help them safeguard their company’s image and products. Following a large theft by three employees of one its high-end wines in early 2008, Kendall-Jackson, which owns more than 15,000 acres of land in California alone, called upon Former ASIS International President and Chairman Shirley Pierini to help them formulate a comprehensive security plan to protect not only their product from vine to table, but also keep its employees safe.

 

Pierini, who has more than 25 years experience in corporate security management and law enforcement, subsequently sought the help of employees to learn what security deficiencies needed to be addressed.  

 

In this “At the Frontline,” Pierini discusses the policies she’s helped develop and implement to keep Kendall-Jackson and its associated properties safe. 

 

 

Security management is pretty much the same across the board, but with each of the industries that we all face, whether is finance or mortgage companies, every specific entity has its own niche, there are specificities to every line of work and that’s no exception with vineyards. The wine industry is a full line of supply chain security; it’s from the vineyards to the table. The product goes from protection of the grapes in the field and the machinery that helps to create that crop, to the crushings, to product contamination, to transportation, to warehousing and then step aside from that and we still have all of the same challenges of personnel security. Whether its owner (protection), workplace violence issues, theft within the workplace, those are all common grounds to every element of security that we apply.