Sustainable Sparkle

While we've had energy-saving solar panels since 2003, we are currently "amping up" our commitment by installing a state-of-the-art Microgrid that will add 798 panels and supply the winery with 85% of its power.

The 250-kilowatt (kW) solar PV system will be a combination of carport and ground-mount installations integrated with a 280 kW / 540-kilowatt hour (kWh) onsite behind-the-meter (BTM) battery storage solution. Along with its integrated smart electrical infrastructure and sophisticated controls, the microgrid system will allow the solar and storage to power the facility and maintain 100% of its operations during a power outage, reducing diesel fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions as well as extend fuel reserves up to an entire week.

Wildfires, rolling blackouts, and PG&E’s Public Safety Power Shutoffs, have made power unreliable throughout California, putting products and business operations at risk. We are one of the first in the region to implement a microgrid solution that demonstrates a sophisticated approach of leveraging all available onsite assets to improve resilience and sustainability while also reducing costs during grid connected and power outage operations.

We are winegrowers dedicated to crafting wine that expresses our unique Carneros terroir. Domaine Carneros farms 6 ranches in the Carneros AVA, and all of them are within 4 miles of the Chateau. Our Estate Vineyards now total 400 acres, 250 acres devoted to Pinot Noir and 150 acres planted to Chardonnay.

We plant cover crops to protect the soil, prevent erosion, and encourage beneficial insects in the vineyard, limit our use of chemicals to protect water quality, and revegetate with native plants to retain the natural biodiversity of the land.

At Domaine Carneros, sustainability isn’t just a practice, it’s a way of life. From the beginning, sustainability has been ingrained into our company culture and our employees actively make sustainable choices in the workplace, day in and day out. From reducing our single-use plastic usage with reusable water bottles and compostable plates, cups, and silverware in our break room to our annual Earth Day Clean-Up along the Napa River, we subscribe to the notion that even the smallest of efforts can have a major, collective impact. We reclaim two-thirds of our water and through innovative packaging recycling and composting programs, Domaine Carneros is able to keep 90% of its waste out of landfills.