VINEyArD Certification

NAPA GREEN CERTIFIED VINEYARD

REGENERATING CARBON, CLIMATE, AND COMMUNITY

The new Napa Green Vineyard program is the first sustainable winegrowing certification to focus specifically on climate action, regenerative farming, and social equity, justice and inclusion. Napa Green Vineyard certification provides a pathway for growers to improve soil health, become carbon neutral to negative within six to nine years, and increase the resilience of vineyards, businesses, and our community.

The Napa Green Vineyard certification standards have six core elements:

  • Social Justice, Diversity & Inclusion standards that incorporate direct input and feedback from farmworkers
  • Implementing Regenerative Ag, Soil Health & Carbon Farm Plans
  • Irrigation Assessments and Water Use efficiency
  • Forest Management for Health & Fire Resilience (where applicable)
  • Adherence to a Prohibited & Restricted Pesticides list
  • Climate-Smart Burning & Alternatives
These standards encompass more of the property and ecosystem than ever before – from what is happening underground in the soil, to what is happening in the atmosphere, to how this impacts the broader community.

What are the goals?

The Napa Valley wine industry is already recognized as a global leader in both wine quality and sustainable winegrowing. Napa Green Vineyard takes this to the next level and establishes rigorous standards for climate action and social equity.

We recognize that our wine region cannot solve climate change or social inequities, but we have a powerful leadership platform. Our commitment to sustainability sets a standard that is recognized by the global wine industry, beverage sector and beyond.

Social Equity

Sustainability rests on three pillars: People, Planet and Prosperity. For Napa Green we describe it as caring for the health of nature, caring for the health of employees and community, and caring for the health and resilience of conscientious businesses. All too often sustainability is simply equated with environmental stewardship. With this new certification we sought to create rigorous and timely social equity standards that address specific challenges and opportunities within our industry and community and facilitate meaningful progress and impact.

If you would like to dig deeper and explore the certification standards please Enroll Now.

There is no obligation if you enroll. 

Or learn about the Napa Green Certified WINERY Program

Have questions about the program or certification process?

Wine producers can lead by showing the world what a low-carbon high life – a good life that is compatible with a sustainable environment – looks like.

HISTORY OF NAPA GREEN LAND

The Napa Green Land (NGL) program was originally developed by more than 30 local environmental, community and regulatory stakeholders in the early 2000s. Because the Napa River was known to have excessive sediment at that time, NGL was originally developed for participants to meet and exceed environmental compliance standards to prevent erosion and improve the overall health of the Napa River watershed.

Beginning in 2004, NGL functionally acted as an umbrella program that recognized growers who were third-party certified through a program called “Fish Friendly Farming” (FFF), customized for the Napa County regulatory context. In 2016, NGL recognition expanded to include LandSmart, an open-source program managed by the Napa County Resource Conservation District (RCD), designed with similar goals and best practices to facilitate compliance and watershed stewardship.

In 2017, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board adopted vineyard Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR), which applied to all Napa and Sonoma County vineyard watershed properties of five or more acres. Both of the pathways recognized by NGL – FFF and LandSmart – provided participating growers with certified farm plans that met the WDR requirements and facilitated this new level of regulatory compliance.

All things must grow and evolve. For over 16 years the original Napa Green Land model has done great things to prevent erosion, improve the health of our watershed and help the Napa River begin to rebound. Now we must shift our attention to two of the most critical issues facing our industry: climate action and social equity.

See and learn the technique for a conservation/low-smoke burn. Join us tomorrow for this no cost event at @gloriaferrerwinery! 

The Clean Burn Company and Napachar will run their BurnBoss air curtain burner and flame-capped kiln/ring-of-fire system for processing spent vines, fire fuel thinning, and other wood waste. All three of these techniques/technologies can be used to develop biochar. 

Michael Sippiora from Treasury Wine Estates will present the results of a recent vineyard biochar application research project.

Link in profile to register, see you tomorrow!
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In loving memory of the legendary Miljenko ‘Mike’ Grgich.
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Thank you to all who came out for our Weed Management event! For more info check out our online Weed Management Toolkit with FAQ’s, Case Studies, Resources and more. 

🌱🚜
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Cultivating Resilience in Napa Valley 🍷

A few tickets remain for the event THIS Thursday, March 14th at 3:00pm. Join Winemaker @matt_brain_, @cathycorison, @bedrockwines & @andrearobinsonms for a lively and interactive tasting of barrel samples and panel discussion. 

🎟️ Click the link in our profile to reserve your seat now.
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Join us THIS Thursday, March 14th for a panel on Cultivating Resilience with @cathycorison, @bedrockmorgan, @matt_brain_ & @andrearobinsonms. 

The event is held at @freemarkabbey and begins at 3:00pm. Please get your tickets ASAP at the link in our profile. See you there!
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Listen in for insights from @bedrockmorgan on Cultivating Resilience in changing weather patterns and get your ticket to hear Morgan, @cathycorison, @matt_brain_ & @andrearobinsonms live at next week’s Vintage Salon on Thurs, March 14th at 3:00pm at @freemarkabbey. 

Link in bio for tickets! 🎟️
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On this global day of celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women world wide, we want to wish all women in wine and climate action a very Happy International Women’s Day! 

The work we do is never easy but we’ve seen great advancements and look forward to what more what can do in 2024, together. 

Cheers!! 

#internationalwomensday #womensday #womeninwine #winebusiness #wineindustry #climateaction #napa #napavalley 

📸: @kikimrobinson & @briana_marie
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Order your Napa Green shirt TODAY for delivery in time for Earth Month and help our non-profit go! 🌎🌱

👉 Link in profile
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You’re invited to join us on Thursday, March 14th for our first Vintage Salon on Cultivating Resilience where we will taste through barrel samples with @andrearobinsonms & Winemakers @matt_brain_ & @bedrockmorgan! 

👉 Head to the link in our profile to get your tickets ASAP!
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Join us for a March Event! 🌱

March Events can be found at the link in our profile and online at napagreen.org under Connect with us > Events & Workshops. 

We are so thrilled to have seen so many faces at our well attended events in February and want to keep the climate action momentum going for 2024. Head over to our website and sign up for one or all of these events today!
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Napa Green & Premiere Napa Valley 💚

Thank you for creating such a beautiful event @wheelerfarmswinery! 

Incredible offerings from Napa Green Certified wineries @aowinery, @chandonusa, @grgichhills, @inglenook1879, @rombauervineyards, @spottswoodewinery, @trefethenfamily, @troisnoixwine & @stsupery!! 

Cheers to @premierenapa!
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The whole team is here and some amazing friends are joining us like @spottswoodewinery, @accendocellars, @aowinery, @stsupery, @rombauervineyards, @chandonusa, @troisnoixwine, @trefethenfamily, @matthiasson_wine & @grgichhills! 

Our first @premierenapa event kicks off at 4pm today at @wheelerfarmswinery!! 🍷🎉
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Grazing in the vineyards with a big assist from Cup the Sheep Dog! 

We’ll see you at our event in partnership with @napa_valley_grapegrowers on Feb 27th at @thecastello! Link in bio for registration. 

#welovedogs #sheepdog #sheepfarming #grazing #vineyards #napa #napavalley #regenerativeagriculture #soilhealthmatters
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Sign up for the Grazing Workshop on Tuesday, Feb 27th at @thecastello at the link in our profile. 

@napa_valley_grapegrowers @perennialgrazing
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Add the Napa Green logo to your back label! 

Find the link in our profile or email megan@napagreen.org. Happy bottling season!
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NAPA GREEN LAND

NGL Icon
  • Launched in 2004.
  • Practices to improve the health of the Napa River and watershed by preventing erosion & soil runoff.
  • In 2017, the Water Board adopted these best practices and “Farm Plan” as regulatory compliance for vineyard Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR).
  • Environmental compliance is fundamental. Our mission is to help our members continuously take sustainability leadership to the next level.

Springboard

NAPA GREEN vineyard

  • New, next-level Napa Green Vineyard certification REPLACED Napa Green Land in 2021. Remains a whole-property program.
  • First wine industry sustainability certification to focus on climate action, regenerative farming, and social equity.
  • Cutting edge program to address the critical issues of today and tomorrow.