In 2006, a fire destroyed Silver Oak's original Napa home in Oakville, a 7,000-square-foot historic building used for barrel storage and events, burning right up to the eaves of the stone winery. The LEED logo can be found on everything from new office skyscrapers to manufacturing facilities to apartment complexes in renovated factories and private homes in the suburbs.Īpplicants are awarded different levels based on the number of points they earn in categories such as water efficiency use of renewable energy creating a sustainable site with open space and protected habitats use of materials that are reclaimed, recycled, renewable or certified sustainable indoor air quality support for alternative transportation innovation in design and more. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a voluntary program that, since its introduction in 1998, has become an international benchmark for buildings that are better for the environment and for the health of the people who live or work within them. "One of my goals has been to make it cost-efficient if we build green at any cost, we're not proving anything because that's not practical for most people." "In the future, no one should build a winery that's lower than the standards we're creating," Duncan added. "It's never been done before," said president and CEO David Duncan, son of the late Silver Oak cofounder Ray Duncan, who oversees the company with his brother, Tim.
The only other winery to achieve Platinum so far is the University of California at Davis' $15-million, high-tech teaching and research winery, opened in 2010 as a showplace designed to teach the wine industry how to build a sustainable winery now and to study ways to further reduce carbon output, energy and water use in the future.īut Silver Oak, which also makes wine in Sonoma County, is hoping to repeat the feat with its new Alexander Valley winery, also designed to LEED Platinum standards and due to open before the 2017 harvest. Helena and Frog's Leap-and around the world that have chosen to build as green as possible and get their practices verified. With its Oakville facility, Silver Oak leads a roster of other prestigious wineries in Napa Valley-Cade, Hall St.
Green Building Council's highest level of recognition-in the "existing building" category. Taking energy-efficient winemaking to a new level, iconic California Cabernet producer Silver Oak has become the first commercial production winery in the world to earn LEED Platinum certification-the U.S.