NAPA GREEN NEWS

Hello Napa Green Community,

As we close out another eventful year, I’m reflecting on all I have to be grateful for, including our team, members and community. Thank you for joining us at the RISE Symposium and other workshops and events, for getting certified or re-certified, and for championing the Six Pillars of Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership.

This past month has been a whirlwind, as we announced our industry-leading herbicide phaseout. We’ve received significant media and consumer support, including this Wine Enthusiast coverage, “Why Napa Green’s Glyphosate Ban is Such a Big Deal.” 

Nikki Silvestri of Soil and Shadow led a transformative Implicit Bias Training at Dominus Estate on Nov. 30. We had a Town Hall at St. Supéry Estate on Dec. 7 and over 70 growers, vintners and other community members joined us to learn more about the Napa Green program evolution, including the herbicide phaseout initiative. Thank You to Dominus and St. Supéry for hosting these events, and to special guests Ivo Jeramaz (Grgich Hills), Ashley Anderson-Bennett (Cain), and Erik Dodd (Wight Vineyard Management) for sharing your insights on herbicide-free vineyard management.

Much of the content of this newsletter is related to financial resources that could help support your 2024 sustainability and climate action goals. Together, we’re looking forward to continuing to accelerate action and impact in the new year.

Cheers, Salud, Santé! May the holidays and new year be filled with Peace, Joy and Love.

Anna Brittain, Executive Director

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR NAPA GREEN MATCHING GRANTS – DUE FEB. 2

As a part of the RISE Climate & Wine Symposium in April 2023, Napa Green partnered with three champion members (Spottswoode, Chimney Rock, and Boisset Collection) to host a series of fundraising dinners to support regional industry sustainability and climate action. In total, these dinners raised over $60,000 to provide small matching grants for growers and vintners with the greatest financial need to implement impactful sustainability and climate action projects.

  • Maximum award amount is $6,000. Grant proposals of between $1,000 and $6,000 will be accepted. 
  • Successful proposals must include an applicant cost match of at least 33% of the total award amount.
  • Applicants must be certified as Napa Green Vineyard and/or Napa Green Winery, or at the Action Plan stage of the certification process.
  • Projects will be evaluated by the degree that they advance Napa Green’s Mission and make a positive impact across one or more of the Six Pillars of Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership.
  • Round I Deadline – February 2, 2024

Potential Project Examples

  • Purchasing equipment/tools to reduce/eliminate herbicide use
  • Utilizing burn services that reduce air pollution and emissions and generate a co-benefit of biochar (e.g., NapaChar, The Clean Burn Company)
  • Shifting to a lighter-weight glass (must be minimum 100g lighter than existing glass)
  • Implementing equipment/technology innovations that dramatically improve efficiency (e.g., waste heat capture for water heating)

*Note: We also have $300 available per Vineyard member to support soil sampling analysis.

See the full GRANT GUIDELINES HERE, and apply via this GOOGLE FORM by FEBRUARY 2, 2024.

Sweep
healthy soils

$$$ -- SWEEP | HEALTHY SOILS | EQUIPMENT UPGRADES

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has opened another round of SWEEP grants to support water efficiency and GHG reduction. SWEEP can help fund the purchase of flow meters, Variable Frequency Drives, and tools like Tule Technologies to more precisely target the timing and amount of irrigation. Applications are due January 26, 2024 and must include a pump efficiency test. The Napa Green team can help support your SWEEP application and organizing a pump efficiency test. Email vineyard@34.229.46.156

CDFA will be opening another round of Healthy Soils funding funding on January 8 to support compost application, expansion of cover crops, etc. Note that in most cases you can’t apply if the proposed practices have already been implemented on the acreage within three years. This will be a brief window, with applications due by January 26, 2024.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has announced a new round of incentives for emissions-reducing vehicle and equipment upgrades, including agricultural equipment, and supporting infrastructure. Funds will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis so it’s important to apply ASAP. The final deadline is March 28, 2024.

UPCOMING EVENTS

January 11 | 1-3 pm – Weather Whiplash: Let’s Talk 2023 Vintage

Please join us for a special salon conversation, moderated by Andrea Robinson MS., Cathy Corison, Owner & Winemaker at Corison, Matt Brain, Winemaker at Alpha Omega, and Morgan Twain-Peterson MW, Owner & Winemaker at Bedrock Wine Co. will join in conversation around navigating and adapting to climate extremes and weather weirding from one year to the next, with a focus on the 2023 vintage. Guests will get to try a few samples of the 2023 vintage. 

Location: Alpha Omega

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weather-whiplash-lets-talk-2023-vintage-tickets-759886630367 

February 15 | 9 am-1 pm – Weed Management Equipment & Tools

Learn from Inglenook, Grgich and other growers, and dealers from Clemens, Gramegna and Fischer, about equipment and tools being used for herbicide-free and organic weed management. See tools in action and ask questions.

Location: Inglenook

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weed-management-equipment-tools-grazing-tickets-750840643577 

February 28 (Date tentative) – Grazing for Vineyard Health and Fire Resilience

We are partnering with the Napa Valley Grapegrowers to host a grazing workshop in February. Stay tuned for more details on our Events page: http://34.229.46.156/events-workshops/ 

WE NEED YOU! TO PUT THE LOGO ON YOUR LABEL

Study after study shows the majority of consumers want to support values-driven businesses, but they need to be able to quickly identify third-party certified sustainable products. Leverage your leading sustainable winegrowing certification, build consumer loyalty, tell new feel-good stories, and help us achieve the goal of Napa Green logos on two million labels by 2025!

Did you know: The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business releases an annual “Sustainable Market Share Index” based on a review of >70,000 CPG (consumer packaged goods) SKUs across 36 categories. The 2022 report showed products marketed as sustainable grew ~2x faster than conventional counterparts, with a 5-YR CAGR of 9.4% vs. 5% for non-sustainable. Sustainability-marketed branded products had a price premium of 27.6%.

The logo use guidelines and applications are available here: http://34.229.46.156/member-resources/

NEW STEWARDSHIP SPONSOR

We are excited to announce a new Napa Green Stewardship Sponsor, Verallia. Verallia joined us at this year’s RISE Climate & Wine Symposium, and is deeply committed to both reducing their own manufacturing emissions, and working with clients to maximize glass packaging sustainability and elegance. We look forward to more collaboration with them on glass-light-weighting and other circular economy initiatives. 

If you are interested in being a Napa Green sponsor, please see our Sponsorship Deck.

Napa Green Sponsors

Napa Green is grateful to our sponsors, who help fund our expanding operations and programs. If you are interested in becoming a Napa Green Sponsor please reach out to Napa Green Executive Director, Anna Brittain.