Update: Green My Vino

Posted by Pat

A few months ago we teamed up with Iron Horse Vineyards and Village Green Energy to launch a great project called Green My Vino or “GMV” as we’ve started calling it around here. I’ll get into the details later but overall let me say that this project’s been a lot of fun, we’ve learned a great deal and it really ties a few of our team goals together:

1. Being good stewards of the environment
2. Participation in the online conversation and connecting with our customers
3. Partnering with our colleagues in the wine industry

Green My Vino is a Facebook Application or “App” that allows you to share free “gifts” of renewable energy with Friends on Facebook, and create tangible change in the business world.

Here’s how Green My Vino works

• The Application, developed by Village Green Energy, creates three free gifts in Facebook, representing 1 Minute, 5 Minutes, and 10 Minutes of renewable energy.
• When you give a gift, Village Green purchases an equivalent amount of renewable electricity from a wind farm or solar array on your behalf.

The application sets goals and rewards for participation. For instance, when 7,000 minutes were gifted, Windsor Vineyards invested $4300 in green energy, which powers our facility for a year.

Green My Vino Winery Map

In terms of sponsorship, we own 4 of the 5 founding wine brands to go green on Green My Vino: Girard Winery, Windsor Vineyards, Windsor Sonoma & Burning Hawk (FYI- Burning Hawk is a new philanthropic wine project we have started). Our friends at Iron Horse Vineyards were the 1st winery to get involved and they were instrumental in getting this project started.

So far this project has been a great success. As I write this entry:

• We have been covered by Current TV, VentureBeat and other leading media channels
• 3862 users have downloaded the app
• 187,848 minutes of renewable energy have been shared
• Our 4 wine brands have invested approximately $14,000 in green energy

I hope you’ll take a moment to check out Green My Vino and become a friend to Windsor Vineyards on Facebook. In the coming months we will continue to share updates what we’re doing to help the environment and develop new and innovative ways to connect with you.

Cheers!

Pat