Chateau Montelena is installing the first 277 volt Tesla charging station in Napa Valley.
CivicSpark Fellow Margot Stert is working with Sustainable Napa County to create a comprehensive resource guide for new and existing EV charging stations in the county.
Charging stations vary in configuration. A new report expected in fall 2016 will provide detailed use information for all Napa Valley charging locations. Photo credit: 'the rabbit' on flickr
EV stations are one small part of our entire sustainability initiative, but it's a really important part. We find that we're able to find customers for life.
- Matt Crafton, Winemaker, Chateau Montelena
At Chateau Montelena the decision to install an EV charging station started with a wine club pouring at a San Francisco Giants game. Matt was asking club members when they had last visited the winery and a few said they would come up more often – but their electric vehicles would require a charge. “Just as (vine) leaves serve as solar panels for our fruit, we thought we should take advantage of our solar panels for the winery and use them to benefit customers.”
Chateau Montelena was the first winery to install a DC fast charging station. “While people charge their vehicles, we invite them to come on in, see our grounds, taste our wines – it’s an opportunity to tell our story and share our sustainability message.” Now, Chateau Montelena is installing the first 277 volt Tesla station in the valley along with a new universal charging station. Both will be up and running by the end of May.
In addition to more than 20 EV charging stations at wineries, there are at least 30 additional stations installed by the county, cities and private businesses throughout Napa Valley. But there isn’t yet a comprehensive map of locations, station types and power levels for Napa County – which is where Margot Stert comes in.
Margot is a CivicSpark fellow working with Sustainable Napa County (SNC). As part of her fellowship, she is creating a map of Napa Valley EV charging stations with detailed use information. It includes guidelines for installation, considerations for use restrictions or fees and a list of electric vehicles on the market plus the type of charging stations that work best for each. If a winery is interested in installing an EV charging station or considering purchasing an electric vehicle, Margot’s report will be publicly available later this fall through SNC.
In the meantime, for a complete listing of wineries with EV charging stations, share the NVV Winery Finder with your customers and remind them to choose the EV Charging Station filter. With EV here to stay, this list will only continue to grow.
I applaud all vineyards and wineries that achieve Napa Green certification for their commitment to conservation and care for our community.
- Brad Wagenknecht, Napa County Supervisor
🌿 Did you know that less than 3% of philanthropic donations go to environmental work?
Please consider donating to Napa Green this giving season with one of several ways at any level!
Head to the link in our bio for details!
With gratitude and joy, we wish you a beautiful day & start to the holiday season from all of us at Team Green!
- Ben, Meghan, Anna, Marissa, Sierra & Megan
‘If not here, where? If not now, when?’
“The onus is on us as a world class wine growing region to be leaders in sustainability & climate action.”
- Executive Director of Napa Green, Anna Brittain
It’s been a big week at Napa Green and we want to take a moment to raise a glass to salute you all.
We are overjoyed to see so much support and invigorated interest in our mission towards sustainable practices and regenerative agriculture in the wine industry.
We have many more details, paired with educational & financial resources that are already up and rolling on our website. We will continue to share them all, one by one and in great detail here on socials as well.
For now please plan on joining us at our upcoming Town Hall meeting on Dec 7th at @stsupery. You can find more details at napagreen.org.
Cheers and Happy Friday Napa Valley. We are so proud to be a part of this amazing community!
⚠️ Important Announcement
Napa Green becomes the first sustainable wine growing certification to require the phaseout of Round Up.
Please find the link in our bio for the full press release and full suite of info & grower resources.
Join us on December 7th for our Napa Green Town Hall at @stsupery.
You’re invited to join us for a very special day at @dominusestatewinery on November 30th.
We’ll be briefly interviewing our speaker @nikki_silvestri right here on Instagram today at 2:00pm PST to hear more about what to expect at this event. See you then.
Curious to learn more? Join us at @dominusestatewinery on November 30th for a rare event and luncheon. Link in bio for details.
GREEN is the new black this season!!
Head to the link in our bio now and get your shirts, help a good cause and be an honorary part of Team Green this season! 💚
Let’s hear it for our Executive Director of Napa Green, the incomparable Anna Brittain for being named a 2023 Wine Industry Leader by @winebusinessmonthly!!
In their Sustainability Stewards section (which we love to see) we find Anna named in good company with inspired fellow leaders!
Head to our stories or the link in our bio for free access to the full November issue.
Cheers to the great work of our visionary Director Anna Brittain!!
Join us for the Soil & Shadow Implicit Bias Training on Thursday, November 30th at Dominus Estate with @nikki_silvestri.
‘Exploring what Regenerative Farming Systems can teach us about Regenerative Social Systems.’
This is a rarely-available, full-day leadership opportunity. For anyone who joined us for our 2022 & 2023 THRIVES/RISE Climate & Wine Symposiums and heard Nikki Silvestri speak our guess is that for you, like us, 60-minutes wasn’t enough.
Soil and Shadow works with C-Suite executives, leaders and teams to build the relational and professional development skills for high performance, diversity, equity and inclusion.
One of the elements that makes the Soil and Shadow expertise so relevant and valuable for Napa Green leaders is that their frameworks use living systems to model healthy social systems.
Napa Green will be covering half the cost of the tickets to this event. Register asap at the link in our bio.
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📸: Laine Kuehn
Congratulations to Napa Green Certified @boeschenvineyards on being featured in @pressdemo as a first to offer hazard pay and disaster insurance to seasonal agricultural workers! Read on for more and find the link in our bio to the full story..
“To Boeschen, committing to this small safety net in times of emergency isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s the way labor relations are headed in the wine business.
When vineyard crews showed up for this year’s harvest at Boeschen Vineyards, a small winery that operates largely out of a cave dug into a pretty hillside off Silverado Trail just north of St. Helena, they were asked to listen to a three-minute presentation.
Doug Boeschen, the business’ owner, informed these seasonal agricultural workers, among the most economically vulnerable in the North Bay, that the winery was now offering them a combination of hazard pay and disaster insurance.
Boeschen will provide an option to its workers — including the seasonal labor that pours into the region’s renowned vineyards for just a few days or weeks at a time. If the Air Quality Index climbs above 150, Boeschen’s workers will be able to choose between receiving time-and-a-half to remain on the job, or to take paid time off.
Boeschen will also pay its laborers if they are forced to leave a worksite under an evacuation order.”
This article also features other notable efforts on behalf of larger companies and regions working towards the same end. We highly recommend you read the full article!
Sierra is our Soil & Climate Specialist at Napa Green and her ask this year is that everyone consider donating to our small but mighty Team Green for Giving Season!
Here is more from @regenwithsierra:
“🎃 Happy Halloween Eve everyone! Today is my birthday, and I would be beyond thrilled if you would consider a donation to @napagreen to support a nonprofit focused on climate action in the wine industry 🍷🍾
@napagreen has the leading set of standards for sustainable practices, from soil to bottle. I am most proud of the work we do with winegrape growers to adopt regenerative agricultural practices in their vineyards.
Please consider supporting us in our mission! Click the link in bio for more! “
Thank you for having us @visitnapavalley! We had a great time talking to visitors about the many sustainability practices our Napa Green wineries and vineyards employ!
Stop into the Visit Napa Valley Visitor Center in Napa to learn more!