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Always innovating, Bonny Doon Vineyards in Santa Cruz, California is set to become the first winery in the country to use fully-recyclable paper wine bottles. The winery’s rosé wine — which is being marketed as Carbon-nay — will be sold at Whole Foods stores throughout California this spring and will expand to other stores throughout the U.S. This new packaging – shaped like a wine bottle – is five times lighter than a traditional wine bottle, reducing the carbon footprint of bottling and shipping.

Fully recyclable, the packaging weighs just under three ounces, providing expanded real estate to print information and artwork around the bottle. Designed from 94 percent recycled paperboard with a food-grade pouch inserted to contain the wine, paper bottles are becoming ubiquitous in Europe. Through innovative practices like popularizing screwcaps and the first winery to embrace true transparency with its ingredient labeling initiative, Bonny Doon Vineyards grew to become the 28th largest winery in the U.S. and is credited with popularizing Rhône grapes in California.

The Santa Cruz Mountains AVA is one of the oldest in the country and many wineries within Santa Cruz County employ eco-friendly practices. Storrs Winery, located in Corralitos sits on the site of a former quarry. A 6,800 square-foot structure houses the production facility, barrel room and tasting room, adjacent to a vineyard complete with helpful signage explaining the habitat and wildlife that make this place their home. The organically-farmed site is also a teaching opportunity for biodynamic farming, catering to home gardeners and small scale farmers.  A rare 1945 Willys Overland convertible also graces the site, as well as a piece of stained glass from an old church found at an antique shop decades ago and a table milled from pines culled from the estate’s property.  Relying on stellar fruit from Santa Cruz Mountains vineyards, Storrs’ Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah are all hand-crafted from this boutique winery.