7 Eco-Friendly Vineyards in Napa Valley

There is one major reason that people travel to Napa Valley, CA: wine. There are countless wineries in this area where you can enjoy tasting a diverse range of different wines in a lot of different types of settings. So how do you go about choosing which vineyards are worth checking out during your trip? One way to narrow down the choices is to make the earth-conscious decision to go to vineyards with green practices. The organically grown grapes and kind-to-the-earth farming practices are good for the earth and good for you.

Here are seven eco-friendly vineyards in Napa Valley to get you started:

CADE Estate Winery

360 Howell Mountain Road South, Angwin, CA 94508

CADE Estate Winery is not the first California winery to become LEED Gold Certified (that’s HALL, see below) but it is the first to be not only LEED Gold Certified but also organically farmed. This estate is committed to preserving the environment during the process of creating handcrafted Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

HALL

401 St. Helena Highway South, St. Helena CA 94574

HALL is a great place to do a wine tasting because it offers wonderful wine in a really terrific, creative setting. You can sip your glass in a tree-covered courtyard or you can take the opportunity to look at the modern art and sculpture pieces that are on display at this location. The outstanding feature of this vineyard, compared to the other green vineyards on the list, is that it was the first ever vineyard to become a LEED Gold Certified Winery, a mark of it’s eco-friendliness.

Heibel Ranch Vineyards

Aetna Springs Road, Pope Valley CA 94567

Make plans to visit this by-appointment-only vineyard in Napa Valley. When you do, you’ll get a chance to see a stunning a 185-acre estate that offers a completely unique experience compared to the other vineyards in the area. You’ll tour the grounds in a vintage Jeep where you’ll get to see how a vineyard and a golf course can be combined in one great area. And you get all that in an organically farmed bottle.

Hill Family Estate

6512 Washington St., Yountville CA 94599

The wonderful thing about this vineyard is that it is more than just an organic vineyard … the set of one dozen estate vineyards is attached to an organic farm as well. When you tour this place, you can also tour the garden where they grow vegetables that are served locally in high-end restaurants. Of course, the vegetables are great but that doesn’t take away from the quality of the wine at this family-owned and operated hot spot.

Peju

8466. St Helena Hwy, Rutherford CA 94573

Peju is an eco-friendly vineyard located in Rutherford. They make carefully blended wines. These wines come in small lots, offering a variety of different options for you to try. Fun fact about this vineyard: it’s a family-owned vineyard where two generations of the family are working together to create wines that come from both the Rutherford vineyard and the Persephone vineyard.

Silverado Vineyards

6121 Silverado Trail, Napa CA 94558

This is one of the most impressive vineyards and you’ll find it right in the heart of Napa itself. It celebrated its thirtieth birthday in 2011 and has only been growing since it was first started. The 400 acres of vineyards here is 100% sustainably farmed and 15% organically farmed. An interesting additional feature here is that 25% of the winery is powered by solar power.

Tres Sabores

1620 S. Whitehall Lane, St. Helena CA 94574

You will have to make reservations to check out this vineyard because it’s visited by appointment only but it’s worth that added bit of extra effort. The vineyard’s owner has spent the past two and a half decades doing organic farming to produce wines that are organically certified. Wines that you will find at this vineyard include Cabernet, Petit Syrah and Petit Verdot.