RISE Climate & Wine Symposium Launches April 5

Join Over 60 Leading Speakers & 40 Sustainability Partners

Napa, Calif., – This Earth Month the six-event Climate & Wine Symposium is returning as RISE: Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability, Empowerment (www.RISEGreen.org). This unique action-oriented Symposium is organized around the six pillars of sustainable winegrowing leadership. The lineup includes over 60 expert speakers, with Marquee keynote addresses from Jancis Robinson, MW, JancisRobinson.com (Apr 5); Paul Muller, Full Belly Farm (Apr 6); Jason Haas, Tablas Creek (Apr 12); Mimi Casteel, Hope Well Wine (Apr 13); Maryam Ahmed, Diversity in Wine Leadership Forum (Apr 19); Michael Silacci, Opus One Winery and Anna Brittain, Napa Green (Apr 20). RISE is designed to help anyone in the wine industry accelerate sustainability and climate action.

“There are two reasons not to miss our launch event,” says Anna Brittain, Executive Director of Napa Green. “A much-anticipated address from Jancis Robinson and a deep dive on Energy Efficiency & Savings, one of the most valuable approaches to reduce your bottom-line. We’ve seen members where efficiency gains saved $100,000 a year. If you want to save money and the climate here’s your event.”

Another powerful element of RISE are the Mentorship workshops, including the April 19 JEDI Leadership conversation between Nikki Silvestri, CEO of Soil and Shadow, and Tod Mostero, Director of Viticulture & Winemaking at Dominus Estate.

“The pandemic has threatened our health, the recent fires have devastated lives, and three record-breaking heatwaves within six vintages have raised challenging questions about the future of grape growing. No longer can any of us remain insulated from one another,” notes Mostero. “We must broaden our methodologies to meet the urgent issues facing our community. That is why I’m eager to engage with Nikki, to shed light on my own blind spots and identify new opportunities to be a positive, empowering force for all around me.”

Michael Silacci, Winemaker at Opus One, shares, “Walking through our grapevines in 2020, looking at the beautiful clusters tainted by smoke, I was heartbroken. Our baseline has shifted to alternating seasons of fire, atmospheric rivers, and drought. I hit the point on the grief curve where I acknowledged climate change is here, and I rolled up my sleeves. This is why RISE is so important. It is time for a massive collective effort, and there is no industry better suited to setting the tone than the grape and wine industry.”

“From the beginning we wanted this Symposium to go beyond education and inspiration to providing the relationships and resources to incite action. We have to get past inertia,” says Martin Reyes, MW, co-founder of RISE and Partner at WineWise. “At RISE we’re building lasting relationships among like-minded individuals that hold each other accountable.”

RISE is organized and hosted by the Napa Green non-profit, with a community planning committee. Learn more and purchase tickets at www.RISEGreen.org.

Location: Charles Krug Winery | Carriage House | 2800 Main St, St Helena, CA

risegreen.org/

About Napa Green
Napa Green is a global leader in sustainable winegrowing, setting the highest bar for sustainability and climate action in the wine industry. Napa Green facilitates systematic soil to bottle certification for wineries and vineyards, and provides the resources, tools and connections to continuously level up leadership. In 2021, Napa Green was the first sustainable winegrowing program in the world to redevelop Vineyard certification standards to focus on climate action, regenerative carbon farming, and social equity. In 2022, Napa Green and community partners launched a first of its kind, six-event Climate & Wine Symposium (Napa THRIVES now RISE) with over 65 speakers and 600 total guests.

Making the commitment to third party certification takes time and effort, but it is worth it to demonstrate our commitment to the community and to protect our watershed, our land and the air we breathe.​