Over the Hills, and Far Away: Inside Napa's Sustainable Winery

Sponsored: Explore the behind the scenes photos at Napa’s Frog’s Leap winery.

October 11, 2016

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Winemaking is not a new business, and plenty of vineyards across the country are highly profitable grape growing, winemaking, well-oiled machines. In the infamous Napa Valley, the owners and team at Frog’s Leap are doing things their own way. When most companies decide to do something that leaves the world a better place, they’ll trumpet their good deed across social media and send out a flurry of self-congratulatory press releases. But at Frog’s Leap Winery, they’re proudest when no one ever notices. A pioneer in sustainable winemaking, and with California wine industry’s first LEED-certified building, we went behind the scenes to get to know more about their philosophy, tasting room, and of course, their wine.

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Sweet Success
It's a six-year process before grapes appear on Frog's Leap vines. "There's nothing cutting-edge about the way we farm unless it's 1868 today," general manager Jonah Beer says.
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Tilting at Greatness
"The buildings are open for people to walk into during the week—there're no velvet ropes here, there are hoses to step over," tasting-room manager Jonathan Rietz says. "It's all out there in the open for people to see. We want them to see where the glass of wine they're enjoying came from, and whose hands worked with it. That connection is important to us."

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Flight of Fancy
"Our style of wine hasn't changed, but most of the vineyards around us have gone for a bigger-style Cab," general manager Jonah Beer says. "We give people a classically proportioned old Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a style that many of our guests think was all but lost until they come here."
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Fresh Off the Vine
"I have to remind people that this is the way wine was produced since Roman times," tasting-room manager Jonathan Rietz says.

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Classic Wine Pairing
Blake and Connie Tankersley made a point of visiting Frog's Leap before flying back to North Carolina. "It makes me enjoy the wines, even more, to know they could taste delicious and also be good to the environment," Connie Tankersley says.
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Garden of Feedin'
Frog's Leap isn't just in the wine business. It also grows a variety of herbs and vegetables, has its own olive oil, and makes jams from its garden.