In Anna Brittain’s words, “…
A top-down commitment to climate action is no longer a nice-to-have; we’re facing a climate crisis. Truly successful, responsible businesses serve as leaders and educators for their children and their children’s children. And time and again, these businesses prove that caring for nature and community improves performance and resilience.”
Anna Brittain, past Executive Director of Napa Green, grew up in the Napa Valley surrounded by its natural beauty. It was there that Nature first became her sacred place, but it was her sophomore year at Williams College, reading Bill McKibben’s, The End of Nature, that set Anna’s compass. She knew, “My work has to center on climate action.”
Anna’s passion for the environment led her to a double major in Environmental Studies and Political Science. In 2006, returning from teaching English in Vietnam, Anna secured a summer internship with John Garn, one of the foremost consultants in sustainable winegrowing. Following the internship, Garn, sufficiently impressed, offered Anna a consulting position.
As serendipity worked its wiles, this providential offer kept Anna on the North Coast, and in 2007 she and Garn were hired to consult with the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) to develop the Napa Green Winery program, as a complement to their (then) Napa Green Land program. The Winery program was designed to improve water and energy efficiency, maximize recycling and composting, and reduce the carbon footprint of member wineries. Fast forward to 2015, when NVV set a goal of having 100% of its members participate in Napa Green. Anna and John were retained as consultants to help grow Napa Green certification.
Concerned by the growing perception that “sustainability” and Napa Green standards were merely market-driven greenwashing, Anna recognized the need for rigorous standards. In 2019, NVV supported establishing Napa Green as an independent nonprofit, with Anna taking the helm as Executive Director. This marked the beginning of a significant organizational transformation, including the 2021 complete redevelopment of the vineyard standards (now Napa Green Vineyard) to be the first sustainable winegrowing certification focused on regenerative agriculture, climate resilience, and social equity.
In 2021, Anna developed the concept of the Six Pillars of Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership providing a clear and engaging framework for a whole systems, integrated approach to sustainability. Anna worked to grow the team to four employees and three consultants. Yet, having the data and standards wasn’t enough. A major educational push was required to engage growers and winemakers in implementing change.
In that pursuit, Anna co-founded the RISE Climate & Wine Symposium (formerly THRIVES) with Martin Reyes MW, the first of three (2022, 2023 & 2025) six-day events organized around the Six Pillars. The invited speakers, nearly seventy in all, were leaders in their field, representing every aspect of regenerative and climate-smart farming and winemaking. RISE provided a platform for 600-700 guests to learn directly from these experts, participate in hands-on workshops and discussions with peers, and be called to take action. Participants made commitments that were then followed, assessed, and supported by Napa Green’s team. The resulting outcomes, including the creation of the Zero Waste Collective, glass light-weighting, and implementation of organic and regenerative practices, confirmed the success of the symposiums and Napa Green itself.
While the number of Napa Green Winery and Vineyard members increased steadily, long-term vision and funds were needed to increase impact. Consequently, Anna secured grants and diversified funding to support continued growth. Simultaneously, the close-knit team worked to keep abreast of potential and new members’ needs, adhered to whole systems rigor, and maintained strong leadership and camaraderie among its members; as a result, Napa Green’s success continued to grow. Anna’s vision of an authentic and hands-on program setting the highest bar for sustainable winegrowing had materialized. When asked, Anna says there are three things she is most proud of: the creation of the Napa Green Vineyard program, the first regenerative viticulture certification, now with more than 100 vineyards certified; spearheading the first ban on glyphosate/Round Up by a sustainable winegrowing certification; and the stewarding of three innovative and impactful RISE Symposiums.
Through Anna Brittain’s ten-year tenure as Napa Green’s leading consultant and then Executive Director, not only were her accomplishments precedent-setting, but she also shared what she learned with other winegrowing regions and international industry organizations. In this, Anna has reminded me of the early Napa Valley leaders of the industry. I will never forget Robert Mondavi’s statement, “My success is your success, and your success is mine.” Napa’s wine industry was built on that level of collaboration.
I believe that Napa Green’s authenticity as a ground-breaking agent of change, rather than a mere marketing tool, is borne out by its innovation, high standards, growth, and unwavering leadership in expanding the sustainable and regenerative movement. Anna worked tirelessly to facilitate this leadership and was lauded by the Wine Enthusiast as a Future 40 Tastemaker (2023), chosen as one of the Wine Business Monthly Wine Industry Leaders (2023), and named as one of The Imbibe 75: “People and places that will shape the way we drink in 2024 and beyond”.
While Anna remains a supporter of the Napa Valley, she is expanding her reach in sharing her knowledge and experience. To that end, Anna has organized the first regenerative symposium for the wine industry – the “MINDSET Regeneration & Resilience Symposium” is taking place on the Central Coast from June 8-10, 2026
In addition, Anna is the editor of the forthcoming book “Wine, Water & Weeds,” a collection of stories and insights from 14 global leaders in regenerative viticulture. In this book, Anna has written the opening and closing chapters.
As the urgent issue of climate continues to inform her work, the most recent findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change motivate Anna to continue to take bold action through her regenerative lens of nature-based solutions, healthy soil, food, and workers, “farming for life.” As a world traveler, beach walker, and lover of her boxer, Mira (ocean/sea in Sanskrit), Anna is not one to shy away from where her vision might take her, and that is good news for all of us.
