California’s anabatic winds flow up the sides of mountains from out of the valleys – as the valleys and lower mountain slopes become radiated, and the air in and around them gets heated. Now there is a new wine named in honor of these winds: Anaba. But why name a wine after a wind? Because the winery that makes Anaba gets its power from a wind turbine close by one of the busiest intersections in the Sonoma Valley.Anaba Wines proprietor and founder, John Sweazey, believes his to be the first winery ever run on wind power. He also expects his new source of electricity to cut his electric bill by anywhere from 40% to 70%.

At first his wind turbine is powering up his wine tasting room. But eventually he will have more turbines, and solar cells, powering his winery’s irrigation rooms, wine making units, refrigeration, and business offices.

“From all indications, we are the first in Northern California to utilize wind power in wine production. And while we are excited about that, it’s just the first step for us. When we start construction on our new winery, we plan to install solar panels to harvest sunlight as well. That will give us a powerful combination of wind and solar, which will move us well on our way to becoming a ‘green’ winery…We expect [the wind turbine] to attract visitors, especially since it’s so visible at what is already one of the busiest intersections in Sonoma County. And we also plan to use the turbine’s image on the labels of a new portfolio of Anaba wines that we will be introducing shortly after the first of the year,” Sweazy says of his new green investments.