Posts made in July 2021

Downtown Napa is home to more than 40 tasting rooms, 80 eateries, 60 boutiques and shops and a variety of lively art displays all within walking distance of one another. Aside from convenience, Downtown Napa also gives travelers an opportunity to minimize their carbon footprint. Here are some ways local hospitality businesses offer sustainable practices for visitors.

Car-Free Travel:

Not only is Downtown Napa wine country’s most walkable destination, but visitors don’t even need a car to get here in the first place – an ideal way to reduce overall environmental impact. The Napa Valley Wine Train offers a car-free San Francisco Bay Area connection with the San Francisco Bay Ferry, so travelers can hop on, sit back and enjoy a traffic-free scenic ride to the train station in Downtown Napa.

Attractions and Lodging:

To eliminate plastic water bottles, Andaz Napa provides guests with reusable, BPA-free aluminum PathWater bottles that can be refilled at the property’s filtered water stations. The hotel also continues to focus on purchasing local and sustainable products for its food and beverage offerings. Additionally, the housekeeping staff is always on a mission to turn off electric devices in each unattended guest room.

Archer Hotel Napa provides access to local and regional wines and produce through its in-house sustainable food guidelines. The hotel follows low water consumption measures, recycling and reusing practices, utilizing an eco-friendly dry-cleaning service and more. The property also has an ongoing partnership with One Tree Planted, a non-profit organization with a focus on global reforestation, and Proud Source Water, a Certified B Corporation spring water provider.

As the first Northern California bed-and-breakfast to be certified by the California Green Lodging Program, The Inn on First uses low-flow water sources, composts kitchen and garden waste, provides stainless steel water bottles and reusable glassware for guests. To reduce packaging and shipping, all food is also made from scratch. Each room features a personal air conditioning unit with an occupancy sensor, thermostat-controlled heat source and ceiling fans, among other eco-friendly amenities.

Napa River Inn located within the Historic Napa Mill is the original green building in town, which opted to build upon its historic roots keeping the original structure intact. Additionally, the bricks that make up much of the building were formed with clay from the Napa River. Embracing an eco-friendly way of life, Napa River Inn also sources bath amenities locally, recycles cooking oil into bio-diesel and offers charging pumps for electric vehicles on-site.

The Westin Verasa Napa is part of the California Green Business network and features oxidizers in rooms, low flow showerheads, composting, food dehydrating practices and sustainable purchasing. They’ve also eliminated plastic straws and implemented bio-fuel recycling, repurposing of linens, LED high-efficiency lighting, recycling training and more.

Recently revealed Napa Valley Welcome Center at First Street Napa features lights operated on timers, a water-saving toilet and sinks. All information provided to tourists is now fully digital. Additionally, the mercantile shop makes an effort to source local, handmade items. 

Food and Drink:

Angèle Restaurant & Bar attempts to only use local purveyors and farms to create its delicious French dishes. To eliminate plastics, the restaurant switched to paper and corn straws, as well as wooden or corn silverware. Additionally, the restaurant composts all food and paper waste.

The Dutch Door is a zero-plastic takeout cafe, dedicated to compostable containers, flatware and cups. The Dutch Door strives for zero food waste, choosing to sell out of items daily instead of discarding them. About half of the cafe’s menu is vegan, and they also order local produce and source meat from no-feed farms.

Gran Eléctrica utilizes bio-fuel recycling and partners with Napa Valley Recycling to properly compartmentalize all waste for maximum sustainability. The restaurant only uses recycled items including paper straws, paper hand towels, to-go containers and printed menus, all of which are fully compostable. Whenever possible, Gran Eléctrica only sources food items from local farms. The restaurant also grows peppers, squash, cilantro, mint, edible flowers and various herbs on-site to reduce the need to purchase additional produce. Additionally, staff is trained to never waste food, but instead tasked with pickling and dehydrating certain items. The owners also encourage their employees to carpool or bike to work.

Monday Bakery serves its treats and drinks in compostable packaging and also offers compost, recycle and garbage bins within the shop for customer use. The company was awarded the JD Fullner Recycling Leadership Award in 2019 by the City of Napa.

Oenotri maintains a 5-acre culinary garden just a few miles from the restaurant where 80 percent of the menu is sourced during peak season. In addition to fresh produce, Oenotri serves more than 20 types of house-made salami, daily house-made bread, an array of handmade fresh and dry pasta and olive oil sourced exclusively from Napa Valley.

Oxbow Public Market and its merchants use compostable containers and food ware. The market employs an industry-leading recycling program which has received special recognition from local, state and U.S. governments for outstanding green business practices through its recycling efforts.

Stone Brewing Napa donates its brewery wastewater to the Napa Sanitation District wastewater system. The brewery’s spent grain and hops also go to a local farmer in the region to feed the cattle. Stone Brewing is another City of Napa JD Fullner Recycling Leadership Award recipient.

Retail:

Betty’s Girl Napa has been a green business since its launch in 2003 and offers 100 percent upcycled fashion, such as dresses made from vintage and recycled fabrics.

Napa Running Company is committed to keeping fitness environmentally friendly by offering green products such as Hydro Flask water bottles as well as recycled shoe packaging. Recently, the store introduced a new eco-friendly brand, Girlfriend Collective, whose products are made from recycled polyester and post-consumer recycled water bottles.

For more information about Downtown Napa, including lodging, dining, wine tastings, shopping and things to do, visit donapa.com.

ABOUT NAPA TOURISM IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT

Created in 2010, the Napa Tourism Improvement District (TID) is the official destination marketing organization for Downtown Napa/City of Napa. With a mission to increase overnight visitation and improve the local economy, the Napa TID promotes nearly 45 hotels and bed and breakfast properties, premier dining, wine tasting, shopping and local entertainment. The Napa TID utilizes its website (DoNapa.com), participates in the creation of local events and develops targeted marketing programs that drive overnight stays during the off-season and mid-week occupancy throughout the year.