Going Green
Our winery was built for innovative winemaking
Often called "ambitiously efficient," our state-of-the-art winery in Calistoga, completed in 2018, employs cutting-edge energy-saving initiatives, allowing our team to practice traditional winemaking techniques. Respecting the land does not stop in the vineyards, and our facility is another way we reflect and respect the heritage of Napa Valley's terroir.
Custom-built double stack tanks were designed to maximize space and efficiency. We can not only customize each vineyard lots' needs to the most appropriate size tank, but this tank layout enables us to synergize heating and cooling of tanks, while reducing overall water and chemical needs for sanitization.
We have a high-efficiency ozone generating machine. The use of this device dramatically reduces the need for chemical and water inputs.
Our brand-new computerized barrel washers use high pressure, low-flow heads which minimize water use while optimizing barrel cleanliness. The washer uses a water reclamation system to recycle ozonated water.
A state-of-the-art solar array provides approximately 95% of our energy needs.
This versatile and powerful energy-saving tool allows us to produce the highest quality wines with optimal efficiency. Its large size means we can fit more whole clusters inside, which reduces the number of press cycles, translating to fewer cleanings and an overall reduction in water, chemicals and time required for sanitization.
Recently we added a Pellenc Grape Destemmer and Sorter to our repertoire, the gold standard in the industry, which allows for greater precision and increased speed when processing the fruit. In tandem with traditional hand-sorting, we can maximize space within the winery while reducing the time required to get the grapes into tank for fermentation.
A fully automated, night-air cooling system enables us to capture the brisk temperatures of the evening hours, reducing the need for air conditioning in our barrel room during the day.
With the help of the VinWizard system, we are able to program cooling and humidification equipment to run in periods of low energy demand in order to optimize our energy use and avoid using resources during peak hours or periods where they are less efficient.
We installed sensored rollup doors in our barrel room to avoid loss of cooling and humidification. Exterior rollup doors are enabled with remote controls to ensure maximum temperature and humidity efficiencies and ensure the safety of employees and visitors.
A nitrogen generator allows us to capture the naturally occurring inert gas we need to protect the wine from oxidization while in tank, while eliminating the need for rental tanks and gas-guzzling deliveries.
Our boiler system, compressed air and glycol systems run on a state-of-the-art technology which allows each function to run on two units. This redundancy allows one unit to rest while the other runs the operation. Not only is this an efficient use of the units, but it allows the equipment to run better, longer.
CO2 is a naturally occurring biproduct of fermentation, and it's dangerous to humans in high levels. Always-on sensors detect the volume of CO2 in the environment and when the levels are elevated trigger high-powered fans to turn on, exchanging the volume of air in the facility every 10 minutes.