Angwin, January 14: John Conover was looking for the best place to grow Napa Valley’s famous cabernet sauvignon grapes. Turns out the same southwest-facing, sunny hillside that gives him great grapes also raises a fine crop of solar panels.
“We wanted to be as green as we can be,” said Conover, a partner in the Cade winery, which is on track for Gold certification under the US Green Building Council’s Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).
Green wine is catching on.
“We’re seeing a trend toward more sustainable wineries,” said Ashley Katz, spokesperson for the Green Building Council.
The council does not track industries specifically, but Katz said at least four wineries already have received Leed certification and more than a dozen more are going through the process. Wineries with Gold-certified facilities include Stoller Vineyards in Dayton, Oregon, and Hall St Helena in the Napa Valley of northern California.
Meanwhile, solar panels have become a common site across wine country, and some wineries are rethinking water usage. Jackson Family Wines, makers of the popular Kendall-Jackson chardonnay, recently announced it will recycle water used for rinsing wine barrels and tanks, resulting in significantly less water and energy use.
—Agencies