One area where many green living advocates find themselves falling short is with their wine consumption choices. While conventional grocery stores are carrying more and more organic, non-GMO, sustainable food brands, easy access to the same caliber of wines is lacking.
Napa Green is seeking to improve the sustainability of wine production in the Napa Valley area of California through its comprehensive environmental certification program for vineyards and wineries. Napa Green’s programs are the most comprehensive and stringent in the wine industry.
This voluntary third-party, independently certified program focuses on environmentally sound farming and production methods that exceed more than 20 local, state and federal “best practices.” As a result, wine coming from the Napa Valley region is noted as the most highly regulated in the world.
For its certification program, Napa Green uses a set of sustainable and green business practices developed specifically for wineries to protect and enhance the ecological quality of Napa Valley while reducing energy, chemical use, waste, water and overall carbon footprint.
Napa Green provides each winery with an individually-tailored, sustainable farm plan to help them meet these goals. To develop the plans, participants receive comprehensive energy, waste and water assessments for their facilities, ensuring all of their operations are optimized for total efficiency.
The program has gained quite a lot of traction. According to Napa Green, for every acre of vineyard land in Napa County, 1.47 acres of land are certified or pending certification in the Napa Green program. More than 66,000 acres of land are enrolled in the program with more than 37,000 acres already certified. 18,900 of the certified acreage is vineyard land, which is more than 40% of the total vineyard acreage in Napa County (45,000 acres). As a result, nearly 5 million cases of wine are produced by Napa Green Certified Wineries each year.
The Napa Green programs are open to all Napa County vintners and grape growers. This year, the Napa Valley Vintners trade association announced its goal of having all of its eligible members enroll in the Napa Green program by the end of 2020.
If you’re like to support Napa Green Certified Wineries, visit the organization’s website to see the full list of certified wineries.
What are your favorite wines from the list of Napa Green Certified Wineries?
Feature image courtesy of Jim G