LEED Platinum and Posh on the West Coast

If the lure of wine isn't enough to have you packing your bags for California's Napa Valley, perhaps  Bardessono Hotel and Spa will be. The luxe West Coast digs recently became the third hotel in the world to achieve LEED Platinum certification - an impressive feat within the tourism sphere. The naturally elegant and certainly chic 62-room boutique boats innovative efforts from roof to ground - literally. Starting at the flat top roof, Bardessono is blanketed with 947 solar panels that fuel roughly one half of the property's electricity needs. Beneath the glossy panels, visitors lounge in guestrooms that each feature a minimum of 200-square-feet of glass to allow natural lighting and ventilation. And far beneath the hotel (300 feet deep, to be exact) reside 72 geothermal wells to heat and cool the property.

Take one look at the sleek exterior of the hotel and you'll see the stones originally used to build the Bardessono's 1970s home, which was incorporated into an existing stone building meant for wine storage, according to the hotel's website. And all visible wood - deep hues of Orchard Walnut, Redroom, Elm and Monterey Cypruss - was salvaged, and would have otherwise been burned or ground up.

Naturally, the list of eco endeavors goes on and on. Water recycling, composting, low-flow fixtures and LED lighting make the list. And better yet, amenities include everything organic, from linens to cocktails, and a farm-fresh restaurant. Lastly, not to be forgotten, my favored indulgence - the spa. I'd sign up for the Vinotherapie Massage, a treatment based on the anti-aging properties of organic Chardonnay grape seed oil ($125 for 60 minutes). Yes, PLEASE.

For a full list of the hotel's environmental initiatives, available online, click here.