Cakebread Cellars

Estate Vineyards – Our family’s story began with a 22-acre parcel of land in Rutherford that Jack Cakebread first secured with his $2,500 photography commission. Yet our pursuit of prime vineyard sites didn’t end there. Over the years we’ve added to our family’s estate vineyard collection throughout Napa Valley and Anderson Valley, totaling 15 vineyards or 1,600 acres, nearly 600 of which are planted to vine. Representing an array of cooler and warmer sites along both the valley floor and steep hillsides, each site lends a distinct personality to our wines, giving us greater diversity, complexity and unparalleled quality.

Practices & Techniques – “Quality and sustainability have been Cakebread cornerstones since our first vintage in 1973. We’re a family winery, and we want to protect the land for future generations.” –Bruce Cakebread

At Cakebread Cellars, we embrace environmental responsibility with green practices that range from sustainable and organic farming and diligent water/energy conservation to extensive recycling operations (nearly 90% of winery-generated waste). We are proud to have been an early industry leader in these efforts. In fact, Cakebread Cellars was only the second California winery to achieve Napa Green certification; we’re also certified as Fish Friendly and participate in the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing program.

Here are just some of the things we do to benefit our land, our neighbors, and the planet:
In The Vineyard – Sustainable vineyard practices include: monitoring for soil moisture and vine stress to determine irrigation needs; automatic irrigation and mulching to reduce evaporation during irrigation; soil and nutrient management to maintain vineyard health, including composting, reducing herbicide use, avoiding synthetic fertilizers, properly managing pH, and applying microbials to improve vine balance. Our integrated pest management program encourages falcons for bird control and canopy management for disease control; as well as block by block monitoring to catch any issues before they have the chance to progress. We’re also committed to farming with as little impact as possible on the ecosystem. This includes documenting wildlife populations, limiting tree removal, establishing wildlife corridors, reducing run-off, protecting stream channels and planting native grasses.

In The Cellar – Recent green innovations in our cellar include the installation of microturbines that boost energy efficiency and provide heating and cooling for our winery buildings. They also ensure our winery doesn’t lose power during harvest or other critical periods. We’ve also constructed a green parking lot of permeable pavers that allow water to drain through an underlying gravel bed. This filters the water before replenishing the groundwater supply.

In addition, we regularly partner with UC Davis on innovative trials both in the vineyard and the cellar. Currently we’re testing a state-of-the-art fermentation tank that drastically cuts down on water needs—something that would come in handy during a drought.