As a dry-farmed vineyard, monitoring the quality and health of the soil is tremendously important for Dominus to ensure they keep producing top-tier grapes without sacrificing precious resources, so Mostero has found it helpful to be more thoughtful about their communication among staff.

For example, Mostero says at their daily morning meetings, the team reviews how much water they used the previous day, discuss what activities they engaged in and discuss how they could modify them to conserve more water.

“During our yearly reviews, we talk about how to improve relationships within the team, job satisfaction and the specific areas of interest of each member of the team, [and] on a daily basis, we check in to see how our colleagues are coping with COVID and financial stresses … All of this builds a sense of stability, strength and foundational sustainability.”

Mostero also says the Carbon Farm Plan portion of the new vineyard certification has required the most work for Dominus to transition, but that Napa Green and Napa County RCD have walked them through the process of maximizing sequestered carbon.

“Because of the complexity around this subject, and the considerable impacts we can make by farming regeneratively, it will certainly require the most focus and ongoing effort,” he said.

Over at Opus One, the fact that vineyard crews have been experimenting with biochar — which is a hot topic in the world of carbon sequestration — since 2015 was a great help in adjusting to these standards. Opus had their first successful biochar-producing burn in 2018, and in 2020, used an air burner unit which left them with an essentially smoke-free burn.

“It was a very smooth transition to becoming certified as a Napa Green Vineyard,” said Angela Muscarella, Opus’s production manager. “Once we defined the principles by understanding the ‘why,’ we immediately implemented practices that reflected the principles.”

“As a result, these practices became ingrained in our day-to-day tasks, and we were able to educate Opus One as a whole.”

For Clif Family Winery, president Linzi Gay says no major changes were necessary on their end, but that the new certification is definitely “more rigorous” and is optimized for accountability.

“The work is never done, and we can always be improving, both in our individual organizations and collectively as a wine community,” said Gay. “It is important for us to keep track of our progress and achievements, and to have accountability to these best practices if we want to see real impact.”

By Sam Jones

Napa Valley wine industry reporter

You can reach Sam Jones at 707-256-2221 and sjones@napanews.com.