HALL Wines has announced HALL St. Helena as the first vineyard and winery to install an ECOtality electric charging vehicle station. Beginning June 16, 2011 HALL St. Helena offers visitors the opportunity to utilize an ECOtality EV Charging Station. ECOtality, Inc., is the leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies.

The introduction of an EV Charging Station to HALL St. Helena underlines HALL's status as a leader in sustainability.

"Since launching HALL Wines, we have been dedicated to preservation of the environment and bringing innovation to Napa Valley," said Ambassador Kathryn Hall, HALL Wines Owner and Vintner.

"HALL Wines is always looking for new ways to provide support and dedication to the sustainable living movement. We continue to reinforce our commitment to the health of the land, as well as that of the greater Napa Valley ecosystem. The latest initiative to install an EV charging station at HALL St. Helena, is an expansion of our sustainability efforts and is our way of not only encouraging health of the land in wine country, but everywhere."

HALL Wines has chosen to install ECOtality's Blink Level 2 Commercial Pedestal Charger. ECOtality's Blink Level 2 charging unit is the primary and preferred method for charging in residential and public locations. The ECOtality design is easy and safe to use and provides intelligent, user-friendly features to charge electric vehicles.

Through multiple communication systems, the charging station integrates with the Blink Network to offer ease of payment, web-based bi-directional informational delivery and data flow, AMI interface capability, internal meter to monitor energy and demand usage, as well as energy usage data evaluation. ECOtality is the project manager of the Electric Vehicle (EV) Project, the largest deployment of EV Charging infrastructure in history.

The $230 million public-private initiative is sponsored with a $114.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The goal of The EV Project is to collect and analyze data to create a strategic roadmap that will enable a streamlined deployment of the next 5,000,000 EVs. ECOtality is working with a wide array of strategic partners to achieve this goal, including Nissan North America and Chevrolet.

HALL's long-term mission to lead earth-friendly California winegrowing speaks to HALL Wines' consistency in the quality of the grapes and wines produced. In 2009, HALL St. Helena was honored as the first LEED Gold Certified Winery in the State of California by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Green Building Rating System. The design of the facility is in accordance with the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system, showcasing a number of sustainable features.

In 2010, HALL received its Organic Certification from the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), one of the nation's oldest and largest organic certification and trade associations in North America. HALL further extends its commitment to sustainability via its use of bio-diesel in farming equipment as well as fish-friendly farming techniques, which contributes to the protection of the local waterways.

HALL's estate vineyards are enrolled in the Napa Green program, the wine industry's most comprehensive "best practices" in land-use and wine production, focusing on building environmentally sound, sustainable procedures. The introduction of these EV Charging Stations marks another milestone for Wine Country and for HALL.