The renovation of the second floor of the Autodesk One Market office was the second project in northern California to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum award for commercial interiors. The first was the Energy Foundation in San Francisco. LEED certifications are available for many categories besides commercial interiors. For example, Silver Oak achieved LEED Platinum for their winery in Napa, California.

On Tuesday night, a group of Autodeskers and Autodesk customers visited Silver Oak Winery. Silver Oak gets its name because it's located between the Silverado Trail and Oakville, California. We saw presentations on what they have done with their facility and how they are working to reduce, recycle, and reuse water. It's sustainable winemaking at its best.

Silver Oak uses AutoCAD to map out its production workflow and where pipes, drains, and hoses are located.

Silver Oak uses AutoCAD to identify where vegetation is placed in relation to the vineyards. They plant trees and other plants that attract predators that eat insects and other animals that would harm the vines. This allows them to protect the grapes without pesticides. It's all natural.

One fun fact was that today, it takes 5 to 10 gallons of water to grow enough grapes to make 1 gallon of wine. Silver Oak is trying to reduce the amount of water needed to 2 gallons. It was fascinating to see how AutoCAD plays a part in making this happen.

It wasn't all business as we had a nice meal after the presentation.

• Bistro Salad

  

  Poached egg, house-cured bacon, and crispy potatoes: We all agreed that we were willing to forego the meal and just fill up if they would keep bringing us that bacon.

• Foraged Mushroom Risotto

  

  Petite greens, shaved Bellwether Blackstone cheese, mushrooms, and risotto

• Cabernet Braised Short Rib

  

  Garden corn polenta, winter vegetables, and short rib: A knife was not needed to cut this.

• Artisan Cheeses

  

Each course was accompanied by wine:

• Twomey Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2014
• Twomey Merlot Napa Valley 2012
• Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley 2012
• Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2012

As Silver Oak specializes in Cabernet Sauvignon, they market their Pinot Noir and Merlot under the Twomey Cellars brand. Twomey was the middle name of one of Silver Oak's founders, Ray Twomey Duncan. The food was great, and the wine was even greater.

At the end of the meal, this is what my wine glasses looked like:

LEED Platinum Silver Oak is alive in the lab.