- Kenneth Hein

When it comes to making wine, the sun's role is no longer limited to helping the grapes grow. It also will help power machinery at Constellation Brand's Gonazales, Calif., facility. At the end of next month, the world's largest winery solar energy system will become fully operational.
    
Constellation, which owns more than 250 beer, wine and spirits brands, including Robert Mondavi, Clos du Bois and Corona, dubbed this just its latest commitment to global corporate social responsibility. Among its other efforts, any of its wineries, including Simi and Estancia, have already reduced the use of pesticides as well as water.

"From the grapes that grow on the vine to the limes that go into a Corona, we are tied to the earth," said Constellation rep Mike Martin. Protecting the environment "is a significant focus of our business because we are dependent on agriculture."

Constellation joins a growing number of wineries that are going solar. Foster's Wine Estates Americas has four solar installations in California. Beringer Vineyards, which has hosts a 1.86 million-watt solar energy system, was the largest solar-powered winery.  Asti, Etude and Stags' Leap Winery are the other three Foster's wineries currently leveraging solar power.

Some 6,358 solar panels at the Gonzales operation will produce more than 1.7 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. This will cover about half of the Constellation winery's total energy consumption. Electricity will be exported to local residents when the winery is in off-peak production periods.